All IPE articles in December 2009 (Magazine)
View all stories from this issue.
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Interviews
American half-century
f you are wondering why it took 50 years for American Century Investments to open its first offices outside the US, it is instructive to look at who owns the business. Among the partners, primary control is held by the cancer research group associated with the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in the firm’s home town of Kansas City. About eight years ago American Century’s founder, Jim Stowers, now an octagenarian cancer survivor, donated almost all of his wealth to establish the institute. Since 2000, 40% of the firm’s profits have been paid as an annual dividend to the institute – a total of more than $750m.
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Opinion Pieces
Fund fees challenged
Mutual funds managed $1.8trn (€1.2trn), or 48%, of assets in 401(k) and other defined contribution plans in the US as of end-June 2009. Annual management fees earned were more than $10bn but these are now at risk of being cut because of two pending legal decisions. One will be made by the Supreme Court on a case about how much money-management firms can charge. The other one will be made in Congress. The House education and labour committee has already approved the 401(k) Fair Disclosure and Pension Security Act, while the Senate special committee on ageing has its own legislation.
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Asset Class ReportsCrowded out
One might imagine small-caps markets to be hives of alpha-generating inefficiency and anomaly – and yet Joseph Mariathasan finds that returns in Europe are dominated by beta
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Features
Decisions, decisions
This month’s Off The Record survey looked at pension funds’ approach to their asset allocation. The majority of respondents – 55.5% – said their pension fund was subject to asset allocation restrictions by the respective regulator or fund-specific regulations.
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Features
A Selective Focus
ABN AMRO’s Dutch pension fund believes its focus on all stakeholder interests has helped prevent it from dropping below its statutory funding level. Liam Kennedy spoke to Rob Meuter, chairman of the trustee board, and Geraldine Leegwater, head of investments for the fund’s in-house pension bureau
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Features
Nordic lights shine
Iain Morse assesses trends in the custody markets of the Nordic countries
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Features
Under my roof
If you manage money in-house you must ask yourself whether your aim is to add value or to save on fees. Now is also a good time to find talented staff, finds Gail Moss
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Country Report
Under scrutiny
Gert Verheij discusses new rules concerning structure and risk management at Portuguese pension companies
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Country Report
Supplementing social security
As parametric reforms, which have been gradually coming into force in Portugal since 2002, are set to reduce the first pillar state pension benefits, the government needed to bring in a system to compensate for loss of income.
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Special Report
Surviving stagflation
As the dreaded ‘s’ word edges onto the periphery of economists’ radar screens, Martin Steward assesses the options for defending against it – and the risks those options present
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Country Report
Portugal on the beaten path
Nina Röhrbein discusses how the prudent person approach, coupled with global financial crisis, has affected asset allocation at Portuguese pension companies
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Country Report
Spain: Social security still rules
Ninety per cent of Spanish workers do not have access to a secondary pension fund, and are reliant on the first pillar social security pension. Nina Röhrbein looks at the measures taken by the Spanish government as it seeks to readdress this imbalance
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Country Report
Spain after the deluge
Most Spanish pension funds increased exposure to equities in 2009, finds Gail Moss. What will they do next?
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Features
Over the worst of it?
Today we received seven e-mails and four telephone calls asking for meetings. Over the month we have seen 63 such requests. Times are changing and we see this as another indicator of the worst being over.
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Special Report
Copenhagen – will it matter?
Conclusive climate change strategies probably won’t emerge in Copenhagen but investors must start planning for them as the clever money needs to think ahead, says Nina Röhrbein
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Features
Private equity and the ‘new normal’
Swings between deflationary and inflationary economic cycles will play havoc with private equity investments, says Nicholas Doimi de Frankopan, but also separate the men from the boys
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Special Report
SWFs – case for ALM
Work needs to be done to develop optimal asset allocation and liability-management strategies for sovereign wealth funds, argues Lionel Martellini. The first step is to define each fund’s purpose and source of revenue
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Special Report
SMART portfolio management
Static portfolio management techniques fail because they cannot respond to changing economic conditions. Arun Muralidhar offers an alternative
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FeaturesGoing beyond sound-bite leadership
In the final article in this series, Neeraj Sahai and Amin Rajan conclude that asset mangers can no longer afford to confuse the buzz of the investment function with leadership
