All Features articles – Page 13
-
FeaturesQontigo Riskwatch - September 2022
*Data as of 29 July 2022. Forecast risk estimate for each index measured by the respective US, World and Emerging Markets Qontigo model variants
-
-
Features
IPE Quest Expectations Indicator - September 2022
The war in Ukraine is characterised by a build-up for the battle for Kherson. The result of that campaign is likely to have great political influence on both sides. Neither is capable of a surprise win, but time works against Russia. In the US, Trump’s legal troubles are serious and mounting, but any Republican successor may be even more destructive. The EU is running against time to prepare for winter. Both optimists and pessimists are over-estimating the ability of technicians to predict the future. Russia has lost the EU as a primary customer for its oil and gas. It must make up for higher distribution costs by offering significant discounts.
-
FeaturesAccounting: Packed agenda as ISSB takes shape
ISSB board aims to finalise its first two sustainability standards by the end of the year A consultation on the ISSB’s work priorities is planned for later this year The role of materiality in sustainability reporting remains a hotly debated topic
-
FeaturesAhead of the curve: Are defensive strategies delivering?
Introducing ‘defensiveness’ to equity portfolios can take many forms. At the most explicit end of the spectrum, we can consider dialling down market exposure using derivative-based equity overlays – whether these are static protection programmes or more complex dynamically managed strategies which could even include some implicit volatility trading. At the more implicit end, promising reduced ‘downside capture’, we find a wide array of defensive long-only equity strategies.
-
FeaturesWe need better climate models to manage global warming impacts
Travelling back to the UK from Sri Lanka in July, I experienced a 10-degree temperature rise with the UK hitting over 40°C. While some people may argue that such extreme temperatures in the UK could just be a statistical anomaly, climate scientists such as Tim Palmer, Royal Society research professor in climate physics at Oxford University, who I spoke to at length on the subject, have no doubt that global mean temperatures are rising as a result of greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activities.
-
FeaturesCEE private equity: in search of capital
War in Ukraine is just one factor deterring investment in private equity and growth capital in Central and Eastern Europe
-
FeaturesCommodities show their value
The few pension schemes with an investment in commodities benefitted from this allocation in recent months. Prices in this asset class rose as the pandemic and war in Ukraine pushed up the cost of fossil fuels and re-ignited inflation while both equity and bond markets faltered.
-
FeaturesFixed income, rates & currency: defying historical norms
Another US jobs report comes in significantly above consensus. Its across-the-board strength, upward revisions to previous reports, and an unemployment rate at the lowest level since 1963, may indicate that the economy is not quite as near recession as previously surmised. And with inflation still rising, albeit slightly less fast than expected, the outlook remains cloudy.
-
FeaturesResearch: The democratising of impact investing
Amin Rajan and Sebastian Schiele find investors are opting for more social-related investing
-
FeaturesEuro peripheral spreads
Just over a decade ago, Mario Draghi, then President of the ECB, gave a speech in which he uttered the famous words: “.…the European Central Bank [ECB] is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro”, a phrase often credited with hauling Europe out of the depths of its sovereign debt crisis.
-
FeaturesQontigo Riskwatch - July/August 2022
* Data as of 31 May 2022. Forecast risk estimate for each index measured by the respective US, World and Emerging Markets Qontigo model variants
-
-
-
FeaturesIPE-Quest Expectations Indicator commentary August 2022
The war in Ukraine has reached stalemate. Neither party is capable of a surprise win, but time works against Russia. Can Zelensky keep the army motivated to continue? A long, hot European summer
-
FeaturesAhead of the curve: solving the Russian share ban
Index investors inherently choose to follow the market through exchange-traded and index funds, but the recent prohibition on trading Russian stocks and their removal from global benchmarks has created something of a conundrum.
-
FeaturesAsset owners need to find the best stock pickers
For pension funds, an asset manager search is a high-stakes exercise. Get it wrong and the scheme could be saddled with an underperforming manager for an extended period of time, dragging down returns and potentially impacting member outcomes.
-
FeaturesCustodians will be key as investors move into digital assets
Digital assets may seem to be the latest investment trend, but institutions are taking their time in embracing them. Moving interest to the next level will require not only greater regulation but also a solid network of custodians to provide the required security and protection.
-
Features‘Painful’ private equity fees are hard to avoid
The Netherlands’ €551bn ($576bn) civil service scheme ABP paid a record €2.8bn in performance fees to private equity managers in 2021, prompting the fund’s president Harmen van Wijnen to announce an external investigation to assess ABP’s rising asset management costs. The €277.5bn healthcare scheme PFZW paid €1.26bn in performance fees to private equity last year, accounting for two thirds of total asset management costs.
-
FeaturesFixed income, rates & currency: inflation battle in full swing
As we reach the midpoint of the year, there is little sign that the second half of 2022 will be any less turbulent than the first. The conflict in Ukraine slogs on – a destructive war of attrition, pain and fear. The repercussions are huge, global and unpredictable, be they surging energy prices or impending, but acute, shortages of basic foodstuffs, or of semi-conductors, so vital to 21st century life.
