All Features articles – Page 138
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Features
INVESTMENT DIRECTOR’s DIARY
We have been very busy. Managers have been letting us know of our exposures to financials and we have even been discussing the merits of an ex-financials benchmark. The question is where is the bottom to all this mess? Word of advice: do not rely totally on your black-box quant ...
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Features
The Fannie and Freddie effect
The apparent end of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac uncertainty, following the de-facto government takeover in September, sent shares in the two quasi-governmental mortgage lenders tumbling, further decimating the considerable holdings of US pension funds in the mortgage giants. This new ‘conservatorship’ raises immediate questions about the fate of ...
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FeaturesThe improving image of EMD
The increasing importance of emerging market debt as an asset class reflects the seismic shift we are witnessing as power and relative wealth moves from the developed markets to the developing, argues Joseph Mariathasan
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FeaturesLänsförsäkringar’s fruit leaves sour note
Many institutional investors shun hedge funds as opaque in process and therefore difficult to comprehend. Such investors can always fall back on the Warren Buffett adage that if you do not understand something, you should not invest in it. Far rarer are those institutions that have tasted the fruits of ...
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A gradual transformation
The arena for consultants looks much the same from one year to the next but it is changing, George Coats finds
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Features
Troubles by the legion
As Iceland’s financial sector went into meltdown, pension funds were called on to play a damage-limitation role. Jenna Gottlieb outlines the evolution of the crisis
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Features
Polish reforms take shape
Polish pension reforms began in 1999, but the presentation of new legislation relating to bridging pensions, annuities and the programmed withdrawal of funds suggests the reforms of the second pensions pillar could be completed just as the first pensions are paid next year. Ten years ago, Poland introduced a new ...
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Features
Setting the rate
Fixing the following year’s minimum return for pension funds is an annual task for the Swiss government. Nathalie Munaretto and Ljudmila Bertschi look at current factors
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Features
Unsettling times
Yield curve/duration At the very heart of the financial system, money markets remain almost paralysed and it is here that the recovery must start. Neither the global financial market nor the real economy can function without them. Without access to short-term funding, the banks are forced to sell assets as ...
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FeaturesUK asset managers equipped to survive storm?
An emphasis on diversified investment strategies over the past few years could help guide the UK pension industry through the current volatile financial climate. Gill Wadsworth reports
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Features
Shot in the arm for pooling
Shell Asset Management Company’s decision to award a multinational pooling mandate to JPMorgan is expected to trigger more big deals. But Iain Morse finds there may be hurdles in the way
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Features
EU settlement target closer
The ECB pushes on with its Target2 Securities project after most of the euro central securities depositories agree to embrace the settlement platform when it launches. Helen McKenzie reports
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FeaturesUnclear on clearing
As new pan-European trading platforms get ready for launch, Heather McKenzie reports on the lack of coherence in European clearing
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FeaturesIs Solvency II incompatible?
While the UK’s pension provision regime embraces some objectives of the Solvency II framework, it is not appropriate for the country’s schemes, argues Sam Hall
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FeaturesPPF lifeboat has tough journey ahead
Any changes the Pension Protection Fund makes to its levy when it consults later this year are certain to produce both winners and losers. Kevin Burgess explains why
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FeaturesRegulatory response to market turmoil
IPE asked three pension funds – in the Netherlands, the UK and Sweden – ‘Do you think the authorities will respond to the current market turmoil with new regulation?’ Here are their answers:
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FeaturesOld wine in new bottles?
Felix Goltz reports on a recent EDHEC study* into characteristics-based indices versus market cap-weighted indices
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FeaturesSomething old, something new
Some years back the Bank of Ireland set itself the challenge of creating a new pension scheme providing a more homogenous investment approach for employees across the whole group. Nina Röhrbein spoke to the bank’s head of pensions, Michelle Roche, to learn more about this young scheme’s progress
