All Features articles – Page 146
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Features
Staff thin on the ground
The scarcity of experienced back office staff is a major driver of the uptake outsourcing services by both buy side and sell side institutions. With investment managers and pension funds becoming ever more sophisticated in their investment strategies, back offices are struggling to cope with the added processing burdens being ...
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Features
How we moved our money
Last year, the Dutch pension fund PME mandated Mn Services with the fiduciary management of its assets, and took a stake in the company, in what was the largest ever European portfolio transition. Iain Morse discusses the transition aspects of the deal with Roland van den Brink of Mn Services
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Features
Institutions stem net outflows
Investment management companies with business in Germany managed around €1.4trn as of December 2007, a record volume in investment funds. This sum is divided roughly equally into (retail) mutual fund business and institutional Spezialfonds business. Equity funds are still the predominant category in the area of mutual funds, despite massive ...
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FeaturesRefocusing on risk
After five years of growth the recent market turmoil is leading to a strategic reassessment on the part of asset managers in France. Nina Röhrbein examines the emerging trends
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FeaturesTurning the supertanker
Agirc and Arrco have been seen as the backbone of the French pension system for years. But how will they fair in the future? Alain Lemoine examines the options
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FeaturesFI and multi-strategy lose out
Funds of Funds, like hedge funds, got off to a rough start to 2008, and the Eurekahedge Fund of Funds index had its worst month since inception, losing 2.9 %.
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Features
CTAs are sole performer
January was characterised by a strong decline in stock markets, with an S&P500 return of -6.12%. This index, which fell for the third month in a row, finished the month at its level of October 2006.
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Features
Market crisis hits 2007 results
The financial markets turbu-lence seen in the last five months of 2007 had a major impact on pension fund performance across Europe.
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FeaturesEU warning over tax discrimination
Germany and Estonia received formal notices from the European Commission requesting information concerning different tax treatment of foreign pension funds on dividends and interest.
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Features
New Jersey buys financials cheaply
These days the most talked about pension fund in the US is New Jersey State’s Retirement System. With $81bn (€54.7bn) in assets, it is the ninth largest US public pension fund. It is also the instigator of a highly innovative attempt to team with other large institutional investors, including foreign ...
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FeaturesIndustry-wide get together
Sector funds were intended to expand second pillar provision but they have been slow to take off. George Coats examines why
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Features
Keeping something in reserve
An Ageing Fund has been put in place to provide assistance with financing public expenditure. But it is far from a silver bullet, finds George Coats
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FeaturesDealing with external advisers
IPE asked three pension services – in Germany, the UK and Poland – the same question: ‘How do you make use of consultants?’ Here are their answers
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FeaturesWhy hedge funds mismanage alpha risk
The greatest source of market-driven hedge fund blow-ups is alpha, or manager skill risk. Leslie Rahl, Richard Horwitz and Erin Simpson of Capital Market Risk Advisors suggest this is due to an inadequate management of alpha risk
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FeaturesUnlocking the buyout market
The UK’s pension buyout sector has generated attention and controversy in almost equal measure. Joseph Mariathasan discusses business models and future trends with leading players
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Features
First component change for DJIA since 2004
Bank of America and Chevron have replaced Altria Group and Honeywell International in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Altria, known as Philip Morris until 2003, had been in the industrial average since October 1985. Last year it spun off Kraft Foods and announced a spin-off of Philip Morris International in ...
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Features
Looking for alternative advice
Pension funds and other institutional investors usually go to established consultants for advice about traditional investments. But where do they go for advice about alternative investments, and in particular, hedge funds? David White reports
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Features
The rise of the specialist adviser
Rachel Fixsen charts the emergence of niche consultants and advisers in the pensions advice market
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FeaturesMoving further afield
Entering a new market poses challenges. Nina Röhrbein assesses the factors required to make it a success
