All Features articles – Page 80
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Features
Letter from Brussels: Snail’s pace on new rules
An EU-wide framework for third-pillar personal pension products (PPPs) with an optional set of ‘second regime’ rules is inching forward.
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Features
Savvy execution is the new silver bullet
In the third article in a new series, Pascal Blanqué and Amin Rajan argue that the ex post returns no longer match the ex ante promises
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Features
Cash is king
There is a reason why business people judge their success by money in the bank. Alistair Wittet asks why equity investors focus more on accounting values that obscure this crucial number
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Features
Investors are ‘ill prepared’ for climate change
Investors are ill prepared for a loss of asset value due to climate change, according to a poll conducted at the 2014 IPE Conference.At the event, 83% of delegates said they were badly or very badly prepared for such a development.
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Features
Frozen conflict
Since a 1964 report on road pricing in the UK, authored by one RJ Smeed, the idea of charging citizens for use of public highways has been repeatedly raised in Britain.
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Features
Supply, demand and the Juncker plan
A plan to meet the EU’s infrastructure needs was announced as 2014 drew to a close, with new European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker launching an investment fund that will be leveraged up to €300bn with institutional capital and guarantees aimed at reducing risk.
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Features
A divergent opinion
If there is one big idea running markets around the world at the moment, it’s the ‘great policy divergence’. I’ve articulated the idea more than once: just last month I suggested it would take a “brave, brave soul to bet against the dollar”.
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Features
Selfish EU governments put future of union at risk
Selfish EU governments are putting the continued survival of the European Union at risk, Ireland’s former taoiseach John Bruton has warned, as he told IPE the UK was likely to be the only outlier in a two-speed Europe.
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Features
Focus on pension funds’ social purpose
One of the most important victories during the recent bargaining process over the revised IORP Directive is related to the fundamental nature of pension institutions.
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Features
How we run our money: KZVK-VKPB
The two schemes are separate legal entities but are managed through a single fund and investment team, led by CIO Wolfram Gerdes
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FeaturesInterview: Yngve Slyngstad, NBIM, Master of the universe
Yngve Slyngstad is one of the most influential asset owners in the world. As chief executive of Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), he oversees the day-to-day affairs of the Government Pension Fund Global, the sovereign wealth fund that claims ownership of 1% of all equities worldwide – and 2.5% of those listed on European exchanges.
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Features
Some Kodak moments
At the recent IPE Conference and Awards event, the audience voted on many questions but two really were extraordinary moments worth capturing.
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Features
Markets and pensions
Do financial markets reward countries that have a fully funded and mandatory second-pillar pension system? It is hard to say. But it’s clear they do not penalise countries that dismantle theirs.
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Features
New ways to talk to your members
As European social welfare budgets come under pressure, persuading stakeholders of the need both to make retirement provision and to save towards it is becoming more crucial. Yet planning and funding a communications strategy to achieve this will be wasted if members neglect to read or simply ignore the literature. ...
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FeaturesSpecial Report – Outlook 2015: Fear gauges refuse to budge
One of the defining characteristics of 2014 has been the return of geopolitical risk. For months there has been a constant stream of de-stabilising news from around the globe – from Russia’s annexation of Crimea to the advancement of Islamic State, pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong and the spread of Ebola in West Africa and beyond.
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Features
Special Report – Outlook 2015: War on Europe’s frontier
The economic and financial impact of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and Ukraine’s ongoing civil strife are mostly limited to the prime actors, writes Daniel Ben-Ami. But the Baltics are also exposed, and risks would be posed to the rest of Europe by an escalation of sanctions or a disruption of ...
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Features
Special Report – Outlook 2015: Monetary politics
Central bank independence is both a recent and a far from universal orthodoxy, notes William White. But the financial crisis has left the world with less of it and the likely further erosion could have significant long-term consequences.
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Features
Special Report – Outlook 2015: Taxing times for investors
A crackdown on multinational tax avoidance could have significant impact on corporate strategy and portfolio investment theses, writes Anthony Harrington
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Features
Briefing: Pensions Accounting, Back to basics
The International Accounting Standards Board has revealed plans to issue a due process document on the future of pensions accounting. Stephen Bouvier asks where this might lead
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FeaturesFrom Our Perspective: Ready for action
Industry figures like Roger Urwin of Towers Watson have long advocated that pension funds should use their fee budget effectively according to their size and scale, perhaps foregoing costly alternative strategies in favour of recruiting in-house staff.
