All Features articles – Page 31
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FeaturesWhen safe haven assets aren’t safe
In the current environment, investors look set to lose money on European government bonds – a quintessential safe-haven asset
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FeaturesDutch hedging strategies: Dynamic approaches in favour
Levels of interest rate hedging cover used by Dutch industry-wide pension funds vary widely, according to figures published late last year by pensions supervisor De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB).
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FeaturesAhead of the Curve: Measuring the right thing
The old adage, ‘measure twice, cut once,’ only works if you measure the right thing. The prominence of GDP growth as the ultimate gauge of economic performance, for example, is increasingly a case of measuring the wrong thing. A single metric cannot hope to capture all the complex trends that develop below the surface of a modern knowledge and services-based economy.
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FeaturesAccounting Matters: Inflation measurement dilemma
If there is one issue that has seized the attention of defined benefit (DB) sponsors this reporting season, it is whether inflation should be measured using the consumer prices index (CPI) or the retail prices index (RPI). And Lane Clark & Peacock (LCP) partner Alex Waite is clear why: “There is a formula [for RPI] and the formula is wrong. It is like having an error in a spreadsheet,” he says.
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FeaturesIPE Quest Expectations Indicator: January 2020
Bond sentiment remains stable, but still negative. US net bond sentiment is edging towards zero, which is surprising as the Fed is set on neutral.
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FeaturesPerspective: Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan
As he ends a six-year stint at the helm of Ontario Teachers’ and prepares for retirement, Ron Mock reflects on the alignment of interests between the organisation and its stakeholders
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FeaturesOngoing UCITS fees are falling
UCITS are an example of EU financial innovation and a global success story. With €10.1trn in total net assets, UCITS help global investors save for financial goals, including retirement, education, and housing.
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FeaturesResearch: Pension investors seem to be losing faith in quantitative easing
In the first of two articles on a new survey of pension plans, Pascal Blanqué and Amin Rajan find that unconventional monetary policy has taken a toll on pension funds
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FeaturesCorporate reporting: Where were the parents?
Financial reports are normally dull affairs. Apart from the endless reams of paper detailing figures that few people understand, most of us just want to know a few key facts: whether the bottom line profit number is higher or lower than last year; whether the overall balance sheet can be summed up with a correspondingly big number – big is always better; and, critically, whether there will be a dividend.
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FeaturesESG: UK regulator turns sights on climate disclosures
With environmental risks taking a more central role in investment strategies, regulators have also been looking at what actions they can take.
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FeaturesBriefing: Peer-to-peer securities lending
The words scale, operational efficiency and lower cost feature regularly in the State Street discussion of its new peer-to-peer securities lending product. Direct Access Lending enables direct, principal loans between its lending clients and its borrowing clients.
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FeaturesiTDFs: A formula to end retirement blues?
All over the world, the financial industry is grappling with the ‘ideal’ post retirement investment strategy and with how best to pay out income in retirement. There is an arms race and the question is the following: who will win the retirement agenda?
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FeaturesEmerging market debt: Argentina makes investors cry
Who needs Pennywise the terrifying clown when one has Argentine bonds in their investment portfolios?
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FeaturesAsset Allocation: Good news buoys risk markets
Several factors have given risk markets a boost and propelled risk-free rates higher. These include diminishing fears of an economic slowdown, a potential rapprochement in trade negotiations and a reduced risk of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit.
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FeaturesAhead of the Curve: Value investing in the next decade
Winds of change are blowing relentlessly across the globe and the investment world is no exception. Central to this evolution is the growth of intangible assets, ranging from brands and patents to franchise agreements and digital platforms.
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FeaturesIPE Quest Expectations Indicator: December 2019
With the shift to a strong negative bond sentiment in the UK, markets have again split. For the UK and EU, the figures are more negative and trending down.
