All Features articles – Page 8
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Features
Central banks and the weaponisation of finance
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.
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Features
Fear and loathing in European banks
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.
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Features
Australia: Regulator targets greenwashing
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.
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Features
Research: How pension funds look at Chinese assets
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
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Features
Ahead of the curve: The missing elements in the digital currencies debate
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.
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Features
Accounting: The line between transparency and confidentiality
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.
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Features
Qontigo Riskwatch – March 2023
*Data as of 31 January 2023. Forecast risk estimate for each index measured by the respective US, World and Emerging Markets Qontigo model variants
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Features
IPE Quest Expectations Indicator March 2023
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.
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Features
US: SECURE 2.0 means the hard work ahead for pension plan sponsors
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.
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Features
Is the US heading for a soft landing?
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.
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Features
Fresh views on emerging markets
Despite a large, heterogeneous universe of opportunities across countries that have little or no commonality, risk contagion in the emerging market universe is still an issue, highlighted most dramatically by the 1997 Asian crisis and the risk on/risk off capital movements after the 2007-08 global financial crisis.
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Features
High yield bonds: do your homework
Last year, European bond markets were struck by a toxic a combination of geopolitical, economic and market tensions. The picture has improved with the dawning of 2023, although the markets will continue to experience bouts of volatility and uncertainty will persist. High yield is back on the agenda, but selectivity and careful analysis will be key in identifying the right opportunities.
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Features
Did smart beta go ‘horribly wrong’?
In 2016, we published a paper titled ‘How can ‘smart beta’ go horribly wrong?’, the first in a series on the future of factor investing and other forms of so-called smart beta. Did smart beta go horribly wrong? Yes and no.
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Features
Research: Thematic investing is set to attract fresh capital
In the second article on the new Amundi-Create Research survey, Vincent Mortier and Amin Rajan highlight pension plans’ interest in thematic investing
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Features
Ahead of the curve: Time to automate collateral management
The resilience of financial markets has been tested several times in recent years, from the so-called ‘dash for cash’ at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020 to the spike in UK Gilt yields in September 2022.
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Features
Will the US pushback against ESG slow global progress?
Hostility towards asset managers embracing climate action and stewardship is raising questions on both sides of the Atlantic
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Features
Accounting: Happy birthday to the ISSB
The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) finds itself at a crossroads as it marks its first anniversary. On the one hand, it is redeliberating its first two sustainability standards and could finalise and issue them during the first half of this year.
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Features
Qontigo Riskwatch - February 2023
*Data as of 30 December 2022. Forecast risk estimate for each index measured by the respective US, World and Emerging Markets Qontigo model variants