All Features articles – Page 409
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Features
'Interest rates and hope'
The markets have at last begun to rally from the year’s lows recorded in September, but analysts already wonder if the recovery is sustainable. “The recovery since the September lows has been really quite rapid, especially in telecoms and technology, but the markets are still plagued by uncertainty, in respect ...
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Features
Opting out: illusion or reality
April the first next year sees the Netherlands’ Z scores reach their fifth birthday and members of industry-wide funds have the option of dropping out and seeking investment management and pensions administration elsewhere if their scheme fails to meet the prescribed level. The number of funds that are likely to ...
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Features
Measuring implementation shortfall
An unmanaged or poorly managed portfolio transition can at its worst combine opportunity costs, market impact and commissions to produce breathtaking costs. You needn’t look far for horror stories. A recent article in the US quoted the transaction cost company Plexus as saying one of the transitions it monitored has ...
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Features
Learning the lessons
The events of 11 September exposed weaknesses in the US securities trading, clearing and settlement infrastructure. Inadequate disaster recovery arrangements by key institutions, the over-concentration of processes in too few organisations, and the lack of redundancy in communication networks are among the issues local firms, industry bodies and regulators are ...
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Features
Optimism on tax progress
The European Parliament committee on economic and monetary affairs (EMAC), has unanimously voted in favour of the adoption of the draft report on taxation of occupational pensions by Dutch socialist MEP, Ieke van den Burg – throwing its weight behind the EC’s proposal for a communication on the fiscal treatment ...
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Features
Poor understanding of risk
It has been a busy autumn for UK pension funds. There has been so much going on, so many important issues to consider. The problem is where to start commentating. One of the more fascinating subjects is the current court action between The Unilever Superannuation Fund and Merrill Lynch Investment ...
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Features
Return of the 'R' word
Equity and bond markets have exhibited heightened volatility in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in the US. The slowdown in global economic activity since the beginning of this year and the associated deterioration in corporate profits growth has caused equity markets to fall sharply, leaving equity valuations at attractive ...
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Features
Post the 11th
Reports in the media suggest that the terrorist attack in the World Trade Center on September 11 have ‘changed the world forever’. For those directly involved that must tragically be true. However, in the broader sense, what has changed in the professional lives of those of us involved in the ...
