All Features articles – Page 7
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FeaturesEuropean Commission announcement brings some clarity to derivatives clearing
Many unanswered questions linger after the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union. However, a recent announcement by the European Commission (EC) promises to bring some much-needed clarity to the derivatives market.
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FeaturesAhead of the curve: Is small cap the next mean reversion trade?
By now, most investors have noticed a rebound in value relative to growth in equity markets. After underperforming growth over the past decade, value stocks are experiencing strong mean reversion and outperforming significantly.
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FeaturesAccounting: Long-haul climate change reporting
Shortly after the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) tentatively confirmed that companies using its climate-reporting standard must disclose their Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, board chair Emmanuel Faber took to Twitter, making the bold claim that the board was “rewriting economics”.
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FeaturesIPE Quest Expectations Indicator - January 2023
Better air defence and the ground freezing over are steadily improving the outlook for Ukraine’s forces, now locked in stalemate. A series of blunders haunts US Republicans in general and Trump in particular. If Biden’s stimulus package is enacted, it will counteract Fed policy, possibly prolonging the series of interest rate increases. The EU seems to have bought too much gas. It has agreed to take border measures against some products from climate change laggard countries.
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FeaturesQontigo Riskwatch - January 2023
*Data as of 30 November 2022. Forecast risk estimate for each index measured by the respective US, World and Emerging Markets Qontigo model variants
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FeaturesUK fiduciary managers wrangle with LDI fallout
UK Gilt yields rose throughout 2022, even before September’s well-publicised spike caused by the unfunded mini budget. Fears of global inflation, exacerbated by the energy crisis and geopolitical uncertainty following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, took UK 10-year yields from around 1% in January to 3% in mid-September.
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FeaturesUS dollar strength and the issues facing institutional investors
Most central banks across the world are raising interest rates – some more aggressively than others – but it is proving hard for any of them to out-hike the US Federal Reserve. The resulting widening interest rate differentials have been an important factor in the appreciation of the US currency.
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FeaturesFixed income, rates & currency: Recessions - but when?
With the fourth consecutive 75bps hike in rates delivered in November, US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell suggested that the pace of the hikes might be slowed in the coming months (so slightly dovish), but then said that the terminal rate and how long it would be held was more important than the speed of tightening (back to hawkish). The initial dollar sell-off was unwound by the end of the press conference.
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FeaturesSustainable tourism: consumers need direction
The end of COVID lockdowns in most places has led to a boom in tourism in 2022 and a return to normality that should persist. Before the COVID pandemic, tourism accounted for around 10% of global GDP and 8% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to speakers at the Reset Sustainably conference on sustainable tourism held in London in September. The size of the industry means that moving towards more sustainable development can have a significant, positive impact on the world, both in terms of climate change and in the protection of natural resources, including biodiversity.
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FeaturesEuropean pension dashboard in the starting blocks
The European Tracking Service for pensions has been years in the making but is now set for a rollout, to be completed by 2027
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FeaturesHow SFDR became the impact benchmark star
Impact is often defined by intentionality and additionality.
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FeaturesAhead of the curve: Recalibrating alternative allocations for a new market
Geopolitics, inflation, and central bank policy have agitated financial markets in 2022, leaving returns and diversification in short supply. A comparison of global equities and bonds provides a sense of just how challenging the results have been.
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FeaturesAccounting: IASB risks annoying stakeholders
If nothing else, the appointment of Linda Mezon-Hutter to the International Accounting Standards Board promises to bring a much-needed breath of fresh air and dose of reality to the standard-setter’s sleepy proceedings.
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FeaturesIPE Quest Expectations Indicator: December 2022
The Ukrainian offensives look to have petered out and a new initiative will be needed to maintain morale. The US government is once again gridlocked and another debt ceiling fight is likely. The EU seems ready even for a harsh winter, but there are signs of war fatigue. In the UK, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has apparently learned from the Liz Truss debacle, quickly making the necessary political U-turns, in particular on climate change. Expectations for the COP27 meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh were low. Analyst views indicate increasing belief that the wave of interest rate increases is receding.
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FeaturesQontigo Riskwatch - December 2022
*Data as of 31 October 2022. Forecast risk estimate for each index measured by the respective US, World and Emerging Markets Qontigo model variants
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FeaturesPension funds on the record: how they manage LDI
Pension funds reflect on the role of LDI in their portfolios and the risks associated with an unlikely, but not impossible, sudden rise in interest rates
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FeaturesUK LDI woes raise wider European questions
Turmoil in UK Gilt markets has forced continental European pension industries to review their risk management strategies
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FeaturesSingle versus double materiality: ISSB faces inconvenient truths
Climate change denial has been a tough ask this summer. Forest fires raged across Europe, part of a London suburb caught light, and hurricane-force winds left a trail of destruction in southern Austria. The doom loop was complete when falling river levels left France’s nuclear power plants battling to produce enough energy to meet the demand for cooling.
