All Features articles – Page 144
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FeaturesCredit crunch chickens come home to roost
Georg Inderst gives an overview of the effects of the sub-prime generated credit crunch on pension funds
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Features
Clearing the way for cross-border settlement
Ahead of a final decision, expected in June, regarding approval of the Target2 Securities (T2S) initiative of the European Central Bank (ECB), European clearing and settlement organisations appear to accept it as a reality. T2S is a securities settlement system based on the Target2 real time gross settlement system for ...
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FeaturesTaking the CTA to the Mittelstand
Barbara Ottawa examines the reasons behind the growth of group CTA products
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FeaturesDark pools
Pirkko Juntunen throws light on the alternative trading systems that are catching on in Europe
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FeaturesDealing with volatility
Finding global equity managers likely to thrive in the current market environment will be difficult. Joseph Mariathasan asks which approaches are likely to do most well
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FeaturesGrowing demand for thematic ETFs
As the ETF market moves towards more specialist products, Nina Röhrbein looks at fixed income, leveraged and style funds
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FeaturesWhen the euro overtakes the dollar
The global credit crisis, which has led to a steep fall in the value of the US dollar and a rise in the value of the euro, poses the intriguing question – will the euro replace the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency?
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Features
Expectations
Summary of managers’ expectations Equities Global equity markets continue to be roiled with uncertainty as a result of falling home prices, deteriorating labour markets, increased borrowing costs and high oil and input prices. Despite reports of declining consumer sentiment in the US, surveyed investors are more bullish this month ...
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FeaturesInstitutions focus on risk
German investment managers are seeing increasing demand for risk management services, including high reporting standards. And this has heightened in the wake of the credit crunch. Barbara Ottawa asked asset managers for their views on current thinking and on the outlook and trends in institutional business
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Features
Markets still off the norm
Yield curve/duration Central banks across the world have been putting in place new measures in order to melt the liquidity freeze. Market conditions have generally improved over the month, although have hardly returned to anything like their historical norms. For example, spreads between LIBOR and other rates remain very wide ...
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FeaturesMoving towards specialisation
As the ETF market becomes more mature and efficient providers are looking for opportunities elsewhere. Nina Röhrbein examines the evolution
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Features
A never-ending story
Attempts to ensure the sustainability of Germany’s pension system have been underway for years, say Klaus Stiefermann and Cornelia Schmid
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FeaturesA pensions stalemate
Reform of Austria’s severance pay system in 2000 has led to a curious impasse between new dedicated savings funds and exiting pension funds. Now some are calling time on Pensionkassen, Barbara Ottawa finds
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FeaturesPresenting the third supervisor
The Dutch pensions industry is already monitored by the Dutch Central Bank, DNB, and the Authority Financial Markets, AFM. Now a third supervisor, the Dutch Competition Agency, NMa, is joining the fray and turning its attention to the pensions market. Mariska van der Westen spoke with the head of NMa’s financial sector monitoring division, Fieke van der Lecq
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Features
Varying value of the same promise
Charles Rodgers, a London-based pensions consultant at Watson Wyatt, has a problem: the long-awaited International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) due process discussion document on pensions accounting. His issue? The board’s new contribution-based promise definition and its proposal that the world’s bean counters should account for pension promises according to how ...
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FeaturesSaying it right
The complexity of pension investments makes communication very important. Does the Dutch uniform pension statement offer a solution? Rachel Fixsen reports
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FeaturesStirring but not shaken
Changes to Finland’s pensions landscape indicate that reforms are having an impact, but not always as intended, finds George Coats
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FeaturesThe COR of the issue
Selma Mahfouz and Marco Geraci discuss the work of France’s Conseil d’Orientation des Retraites, which will play a crucial role in this year’s Rendezvous with Pensions
