All Features articles – Page 81
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Features
ESG: A sustainable capital markets union
The European Commission has proposed to launch a capital markets union by 2019. But what could it entail and will it be a boon for those pursuing sustainable returns? Jonathan Williams reports.
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Features
Briefing: The force of member power
IPE’s October Focus Group poll looked at the issue of engagement with members’ views. This month, we take the debate further by asking leading opinion formers how they see the issue of member power versus pension boards’ investment discretion.
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Features
Briefing, Investment: Gulf in expectations
Oil revenues act as a source of diversification in Persian Gulf markets, but there is more to them than the black stuff, writes David Turner. The forthcoming opening of the Saudi market to foreign investors promises a new opportunity for institutional investors to participate.
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Features
Briefing, Investment: Breakevens breakout
Some key indicators of markets’ inflation expectations have broken sharply downwards during 2014. Caroline Saunders asks, should we – and central bankers – be worried?
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Features
Interview, Gabriel Bernardino: We are listening
Gabriel Bernadino, chairman of EIOPA, tells Taha Lokhandwala why his organisation wants stakeholders to challenge the ideas in its consultation on regulatory frameworks
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Features
Asset Allocation Fixed Income, Rates, Currencies: The big picture
When the Fed embarked upon its first round of quantitative easing five years ago, there were fears of an inflation time bomb. The Fed has already purchased its last lot of Treasuries under QE3, but is still executing regular MBS purchases, as forward inflation expectations in the US and Europe are as low as they have been for years.
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Features
Ahead of the Curve: Europe is the new China
George Saravelos sees ‘euroglut’ – and consequently one of the biggest capital outflows in history as excess savings flee aggressive ECB easing, sending the euro plunging against the dollar.
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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.
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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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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
Long-term Matters: Lost on Tesco
The UK Financial Conduct Authority’s inquiry into the supermarket Tesco is almost certain to miss a key part of the story – how investors enabled this dysfunctional culture. In September the retailer announced it had significantly overstated its first-half profit forecast.
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Features
The hubris premium
Jeremy Lang and Ben Fitchew explain how company managers’ inherent cognitive biases and environment can influence company risk
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Features
Focus on new models
In this first article on a new study, Pascal Blanqué and Amin Rajan outline how pension funds are adopting new asset allocation models and governance practices
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Features
Focus Group: Is patience a virtue?
Over three-quarters of respondents polled for this month’s Focus Group consider their fund to be a long-term investor.
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Features
Hill’s grilling on an open fire
After two hearings and nearly six hours of grandstanding and deflection, rhetorical and leading questions, the European Parliament in October approved Jonathan Hill’s appointment as financial services commissioner.
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Features
ESG: Profit with purpose
In the wake of a recent G8 working group on impact investing, Jonathan Williams examines how pension investors view strategies with a social purpose
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Features
Diary of an Investor: Generation games
Now that my children are getting older they ask me more about what I do for a living and the questions are getting a bit more demanding. My eldest, especially, is at an age when questions come thick and fast.
