All IPE articles in February 2022 (Magazine)
View all stories from this issue.
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Special Report
Special Report – Pan-European Personal Pensions
From March, the European Commission’s vision of a simple, cross-border savings product becomes a reality with the launch of the Pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP). EU citizens will for the first time be able to channel savings into a long-term third-pillar product that is cost effective, simple and portable across borders.
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Special Report
The jury is still out on PEPP: industry views
IPE asked some of the leading voices in the European pension industry to comment on the likelihood of success for the PEPP
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Special Report
PEPP: Few players on the starting line
In March, the European Union’s Pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP) framework comes into effect, amid doubts about the take-up by providers
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Features
Strategically speaking: Eyes on the next frontier
“Riddle me this,” asks Yves Choueifaty, founder, president and CIO of French asset manager TOBAM. “Why would 70 people who are not TOBAM employees be at our Paris headquarters today?”
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Opinion Pieces
The EU taxonomy needs rescuing
The EU taxonomy, a system for identifying what economic activities count as sustainable, has been in the spotlight since the news broke on new year’s eve about a proposal from the European Commission to extend it to cover nuclear energy and natural gas. It is unclear how long the controversy will last.
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Asset Class Reports
Portfolio Strategy - Hedge Funds: Juggling the ESG imperative
ESG has the power to transform, but do hedge funds have the drive, data and determination to fit sustainability into their investment process?
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Country Report
Funding levels down, but outlook good
An update on the accounting deficits in Irish DB pension schemes
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Features
Perspective: La dolce pensione
Italy may be on the verge of overhauling its pension system, but there are signs the reform project lacks ambition
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Opinion Pieces
Notes from the Nordics: Danish funds keen to invest in green project
Danish pension funds have been at the forefront of discussions on how to achieve the nation’s ambitious goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 70% from 1990 levels by 2030.
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Features
Fixed income, rates, currencies: COVID starts to lose grip on GDP
COVID’s huge influence on all our lives, whether through disruption of global supply chains or threats of lockdowns in the face of soaring infection rates, was reasonably constant throughout 2021. However, it now appears that GDP numbers have become generally less sensitive to COVID infection rates than they were, say, 18 months ago, with high vaccination rates (certainly across developed markets), and an awareness from politicians that the public’s willingness to comply with lockdowns may be waning fast.
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Opinion Pieces
Letter from US: Upcoming court ruling could create complications for DC plan sponsors
By the first half of this year, the United States Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision that could affect the defined-contribution (DC) industry. The case is Hughes vs Northwestern University, one of about 150 similar class-action lawsuits filed nationally in the past few years, alleging that plan fiduciaries breached their duty of prudence under ERISA, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.
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Features
Research: Operational challenges for investors
A new study on operational and informational efficiency highlights the challenges for smaller funds
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Special Report
Case study: Readying PEPP for launch
The EU’s PEPP is like a shuttle aircraft, with the potential to carry individual savers across Europe. But its flight plan is detailed and complex, and admin providers play a key role in preparing PEPP for launch
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Features
Briefing – ESG data: material innovations
As environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations have risen in importance among investors in recent years, so the subject of data quality has become an essential issue.
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Asset Class Reports
Portfolio strategy – Hedge funds: macro bets on
Global macro funds should do better in the current market environment – but not all will thrive and investor due diligence will be key
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Country Report
Revised code of practice beds in
Ireland’s Pensions Authority published its revised code of practice for occupational pension scheme trustees last November, to a lukewarm reception. After a lukewarm response, trustees are getting to grips with what is required of them
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Opinion Pieces
Guest Viewpoint: Is Europe on track to become sovereign?
The Next Generation EU (NGEU) programme is designed to speed up the EU recovery and spur growth over the medium and long term. More importantly, it represents a unique opportunity to lay the foundations of a deep and liquid European safe asset.
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Features
Joseph Mariathasan: Avoiding ‘tragedy of the horizon’
Climate change is the “tragedy of the horizon”, warned Mark Carney, then governor of the Bank of England, in a 2015 speech to the insurance market Lloyd’s of London.
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Country Report
Auto-enrolment: a never-ending story?
COVID, Brexit and elections all contributed to the delay in the introduction of the workplace schemes
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Opinion Pieces
Letter from Australia: Superfunds focus on retirement income
When you’ve spent as much time around superannuation as I have, you get to see a lot of eggs,” says senior corporate regulator Helen Rowell. “Images of eggs, usually in nests, often painted gold, frequently laying on a bed of $100 notes.”