All Features articles – Page 22
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FeaturesIPE Quest Expectations Indicator - May 2021
COVID-19 infection rates are still rising in the US and Japan, hopefully on the verge of decreasing in the EU and low in the UK. The positive trend in global infection rates is more than undone by a strong rise in infections in parts of Asia. With the exception of the UK and Israel, vaccination has not progressed to the stage where it has a discernible influence on infection rates.
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FeaturesSelectivity is key in SPAC market
The vogue for special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) has something in common with many other fashions, whether in investment or in the shops. Just when you think the trend cannot get even hotter, the temperature rises yet further.
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FeaturesSustainability: A purpose-driven stock exchange
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have caught the imagination of the investment world. For many in the millennial generation the idea that its investments should fulfil positive social or environmental impacts seems self-evident. Yet many asset managers still struggle to incorporate SDGs into their strategies. Nor do they hesitate to trumpet questionable ESG credentials to investors.
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FeaturesFixed Income, Rates, Currencies: Rising yields signal reflation
The Federal Reserve has not hinted at its future plans to unwind quantitative easing (QE). However, markets are looking to 2013’s ‘taper tantrum’ for an explanation of the dramatic US-led bond market sell-offs.
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Dual-class share plans fuel concern over stewardship and governance
Introducing dual-class share structures to make London a more competitive financial centre would weaken shareholder rights and make it harder to influence corporate behaviour, institutional investors and trade bodies have warned.
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FeaturesInflation strategy: Conditions look ripe for a new commodities supercycle
The media briefly got excited when the followers of Reddit – a social news website often used by political activists – ineffectually attempted to ramp up silver prices in February. But news about commodity prices other than oil and gold rarely make headlines. For most institutional investors, commodities are a Cinderella asset class. A fleeting moment in fashion before the 2008 global financial crisis (GFC) has been superseded by widespread indifference.
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FeaturesAhead of the curve: Modelling the unmodellable
In January 2020, the world was on the verge of a pandemic. It would empower the state, increase the might of technology firms, speed up technological adaptation, upend cities and accelerate China’s rise.
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FeaturesDB accounting: Lump-sum benefits
Service-defined lump-sum payments are causing accounting attribution problems
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FeaturesLong term assets: Proposed vehicle aims to help DC funds access private asset classes
The UK’s chancellor of the exchequer, Rishi Sunak, has set an ambitious timetable for the launch of a new UK-authorised fund vehicle, the Long-Term Asset Fund (LTAF), by the end of 2021. The LTAF is envisaged to simultaneously help achieve several policy goals by directing pension savings into alternative investments.
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FeaturesIPE Quest Expectations Indicator - April 2021
COVID-19 vaccination figures are rapidly increasing in Europe despite supply problems. Vaccinations are still restricted to vulnerable groups in many countries although the UK is a notable exception. Some countries have imposed new lockdown measures.
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FeaturesPerspective: UK actuaries and COVID-19 – Exceeding expectations
COVID-19 has brought few positive outcomes but the response from UK actuaries could become a template for bringing other strategic challenges to the fore
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FeaturesPerspective: Pooled investors gain a vote
A disruptive new service allows institutional investors in pooled funds to express their stewardship preferences. Will others follow suit?
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Rising interest in EM debt
The weak dollar and low US interest rates are pushing governments and companies in emerging markets (EMs) to issue growing volumes of dollar-denominated debt.
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FeaturesFixed Income, Rates, Currencies: Priming the pump
Although COVID-19 infection rates are falling across many regions, the ‘success’ is more a reflection of lockdown restrictions keeping opportunities for virus spread low.
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FeaturesHedge funds: Coping with low interest rates
Historical analysis suggests portfolios of certain quant hedge fund strategies may offset some of the risk of rising interest rates
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FeaturesChina: Caught in the crossfire
The investment world is at risk of being caught in the midst of a ‘geoeconomic’ conflict between the world’s main economic blocs
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FeaturesFX Reserves: The ‘rainy day’ has arrived
The world is facing a short-term health and economic crisis with COVID-19. In the longer term it is threatened by an existential crisis with global warming caused by burning fossil fuels.
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FeaturesAhead of the curve: Alternatives investing in a low-yielding world
Investors hoping to replicate bond-like returns (low to mid-single digit, low volatility and drawdown) are facing an unenviable predicament. How can they generate acceptable, positive returns without simultaneously suffering illiquidity, valuation uncertainty, gap risk, and other hard to quantify risks?
