All Features articles – Page 5

  • Russian attack on local market in Shevchenkove village in Kharkiv region
    Features

    Ukraine: The mother of all impact investments

    April 2023 (Magazine)

    Institutional investors can play a crucial role in rebuilding Ukraine in a post-war future 

  • Amitrano Giuseppe.1
    Features

    Ahead of the curve: Introducing the concept of a carbon risk-free curve

    April 2023 (Magazine)

    As global investors and companies progress towards their net-zero emissions targets, the concept of a carbon risk-free curve becomes increasingly relevant within the fixed-income market. In our view, this curve should provide a reference for evaluating the risk levels of bonds in relation to their issuers’ CO₂-equivalent (CO₂e) emissions and can therefore help investors to assess the impact of changes in CO₂e emissions on the yield spread of fixed-income bonds. 

  • Masamichi Kono IFRS_OECD
    Features

    Accounting: IFRS’s Kono says no

    April 2023 (Magazine)

    On the face of it, the staff at the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) have done a good job so far.

  • Expectations Indicator graphs Apr23
    Features

    IPE Quest Expectations Indicator April 2023

    April 2023 (Magazine)

    With new, superior equipment, the Ukrainian military is set to start an offensive soon. Meanwhile, Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group, is jockeying to become Russia’s next kleptocrat on the back of the Russian army. Donald Trump’s candidacy is increasingly beleaguered by defeats in court. The trade agreement on Northern Ireland between the EU and the UK is a significant boon for both as well as for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, not because the trade flows are so important but because the issue blocked co-operation in many other fields. While the winter has been mild and beneficial, there are early signs of a dry spring, quite possible in view of climate change setting in. If that materialises, harvests, therefore food prices, will be affected in autumn.  

  • Qontigo riskwatch
    Features

    Qontigo Riskwatch – April 2023

    April 2023 (Magazine)

    *Data as of 28 February 2023. Forecast risk estimate for each index measured by the respective US, World and Emerging Markets Qontigo model variants

  • Virtu Apr23 copy 2
    Features

    Virtu Global Tradewatch – April 2023

    April 2023 (Magazine)

    February 2023 data through to 13 March 2023

  • WTI crude oil prices (NYMEX), Feb 2003–Feb 2023
    Features

    From soft landing to no landing

    March 2023 (Magazine)

    Once again, the US jobs market has shown its capacity to surprise forecasters, if not astonish them. January’s non-farm payroll numbers came in way above consensus forecasts, swiftly reversing markets’ dovish take on that week’s central bank actions, with bond markets handing back much of their earlier gains.  

  • Karen Shackleton
    Features

    TCFD reporting for pension funds in the UK: a progress report

    March 2023 (Magazine)

    Some 18 months from the introduction of mandatory reporting of climate data by large UK pension funds, evidence shows that the policy has not brought about greater orientation towards green investments

  • Kalbreier_Manuel_4x4
    Features

    Private equity fundamentals resilient in headwinds

    March 2023 (Magazine)

    The economy and markets are beset with headwinds, and private equity assets are unlikely to be impervious. The concerns with the asset class are wide-ranging, from difficult financing conditions to rising interest rates, squeezed corporate margins and closed exit routes. 

  • Central banks and the weaponisation of finance
    Features

    Central banks and the weaponisation of finance

    March 2023 (Magazine)

    The US has been a global power since the second world war. But it was during the interval between the collapse of the USSR in 1991 and the rise of China in the 21st century that the US was perhaps the single global hegemon. 

  • European banks have serially underperformed the broad market
    Features

    Fear and loathing in European banks

    March 2023 (Magazine)

    Any CEO would recognise there is a problem when investors do not want to put their money to work with you. That is the situation that European banks find themselves in. The MSCI Europe bank index has considerably underperformed its MSCI Europe parent over the last 10 years.

  • Angela Ashton
    Features

    Australia: Regulator targets greenwashing

    March 2023 (Magazine)

    Vanguard, one of the world’s largest investment managers, suffered the indignity in December of being the second company in Australia to receive an infringement notice for alleged greenwashing. 

  • Vincent Mortier and Amin Rajan
    Features

    Research: How pension funds look at Chinese assets

    March 2023 (Magazine)

    Allocations to Chinese assets are still modest. Vincent Mortier and Amin Rajan discuss key issues in the third and final article from the latest Amundi-Create-Research Survey        

  • Swen Werner_State Street
    Features

    Ahead of the curve: The missing elements in the digital currencies debate

    March 2023 (Magazine)

    The recent contraction of the cryptocurrency markets poses questions about the viability of digital currency as an asset class for institutional investors. However, these developments have not undermined the efforts of central banks to pursue their own digital currency initiatives. 

  • Verity Chegar
    Features

    Accounting: The line between transparency and confidentiality

    March 2023 (Magazine)

    It was inevitable that the push by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) to redefine non-financial reporting would collide with the question of just how much transparency is too much. We had something of an answer on 18 January when the board explored disclosures about the risks and opportunities that arise from climate change.

  • Qontigo Riskwatch5
    Features

    Qontigo Riskwatch – March 2023

    March 2023 (Magazine)

    *Data as of 31 January 2023. Forecast risk estimate for each index measured by the respective US, World and Emerging Markets Qontigo model variants

  • Virtu Global Tradewatch - March23 copy 3
    Features

    Virtu Global Tradewatch – March 2023

    March 2023 (Magazine)

    January 2023 data through to 13 February 2023

  • IPE Quest Expectations Indicator March 2023
    Features

    IPE Quest Expectations Indicator March 2023

    March 2023 (Magazine)

    The next Ukrainian offensive will be in April at the earliest, as modern tanks will have arrived by then. US Republican pushback of ESG and climate-related investments are a new bone of contention in relations with the EU, already strained by the Trump presidency, and a bad sign for US-EU co-operation on China policy, an issue Japan seems to be ducking successfully. Aided by a soft winter, EU energy concerns have become quite manageable.

  • David Stinnett
    Features

    US: SECURE 2.0 means the hard work ahead for pension plan sponsors

    March 2023 (Magazine)

    On one thing pretty much everyone agrees: the new SECURE 2.0 Act is very broad, complex, and will create a lot of work for US plan sponsors and retirement providers. In fact, the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement law includes over 90 different provisions. 

  • Office for National Statistics Monthly Wages and Salaries Survey
    Features

    Is the US heading for a soft landing?

    February 2023 (Magazine)

    Rare though they are in history, a soft landing for the US economy seems to be the consensus forecast, a view aided by news of a sharp contraction in the Institute of Supply Management (ISM) Services Purchasing Managers index in December. The jobs market also looks like it is slowing down and there are signs of a cooling off in wages, with lower-than-expected average hourly earnings reported in December’s non-farm payroll report.