All Focus Group articles – Page 2
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Features
Focus Group: Different approaches to fees
Less than half of those polled for this month’s Focus Group (13 respondents, compared with 22 in the June 2014 survey) are in favour of asset management performance fees.
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Features
Focus Group: A changing climate
Climate change risk has been formally discussed by 15 funds polled for this month’s Focus Group
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Features
Focus Group: Time to get active?
Almost half of the investors polled in this month’s Focus Group, 12 out of a total of 25, state that active equity management within their investment strategy has increased over the past decade
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Features
Focus Group: General belief in FX hedging
Three-quarters of the investors surveyed for this month’s Focus Group hedge some of their foreign exchange (FX) risk, while just one fund hedges it all. This is a similar proportion to when investors were last polled in April 2013 (81% in 2015 compared with 78% in 2013).
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Features
Focus Group: Fixed in the mind
Some 44% (16 respondents) of the investors polled this month say that fixed income has become more important in their portfolio over the past five years. Ten of these say it has become much more important.
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Features
Focus Group: Contribution to the future
Two-thirds of the funds polled for this month’s Focus Group said defined contribution (DC) represents the future for pension provision
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Features
Focus Group: From a board perspective
Just over half of the funds polled for this month’s Focus Group consider diversity on a pension fund board to be important
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Features
Focus Group: Recovery to continue
Fourteen of the 21 investors polled for this month’s Focus Group are confident that Europe’s economic recovery is sustainable in the medium term. “No inflation and labour problems are too serious to be solved in the next 18 months,” said an Italian fund.
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Features
Focus Group: Cooler on credit
Six in 10 respondents to this month’s Focus Group think that credit has become more important in their fund’s portfolio over the past five years
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Features
Focus Group: Regulatory overkill
Twenty-three of the pension funds polled for this month’s Focus Group survey find their regulators’ approach affects their investment strategy.
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Features
Focus Group: Smarter than the average beta?
Over half of the funds responding to this month’s Focus Group survey currently allocate to investments that employ smart beta concepts, with an average of 17.5% of their equity portfolio managed in this way. Nine funds are considering further allocations.
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Features
Focus Group:Up in smoke?
Thirteen of the funds polled for this month’s Focus Group have formally discussed portfolio carbon or fossil fuel exposure, and 10 of those are signatories to at least one pledge or set of principles covering fossil fuel, carbon emissions or other environmental issues.
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FeaturesFocus Group Small isn’t necessarily beautiful
If IPE’s Focus Group is anything like a representative sample, European institutional investors do not allocate much to smaller companies. Only about half invest in listed small-caps, and those allocate 5% or less of their assets. About two-thirds invest via private equity but, again, most allocate in single digits.
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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
Focus Group: Contending with the ‘do-gooders’
Just over half of respondents polled for this month’s Focus Group said their fund has an overall ESG policy. Around the same number have an active engagement policy for corporate governance issues – and 21 have decided to exclude specific investment areas due to ESG considerations.
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Features
Focus Group: Political risk versus reward
Unsurprisingly for anyone who has caught a news broadcast during 2014, 20 of the investors polled for this month’s Focus Group think that political risk has increased over the past 12 months, with the five remaining funds saying it has stayed about the same. None feels that it has decreased.
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Features
Focus Group: Do you get what you pay for? (Part 2)
Just half of the participants to this month’s Focus Group think diversity on a pension fund board is important – but three respondents ranked it as “very unimportant”. “[It is important] both in terms of employer representation, member representation, cultures and gender. Diversity is a key aspect of our communication strategy,” said a UK fund.
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Features
Focus Group: Do you get what you pay for?
Asset management offers poorer value for money than other service industries, if IPE’s latest Focus Group survey results are anything to go by.
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Features
Focus Group: Do you get what you pay for?
Asset management offers poorer value for money than other service industries, if IPE’s latest Focus Group survey results are anything to go by. Eighteen out of 36 respondents feel that it is worse while only 10 feel that it is better. Passive management is considered best in terms of value for money and investor-friendly fee structures, followed by benchmarked long-only active management and smart beta. Private equity and especially hedge funds are seen as the worst offenders.
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Features
Focus Group: Credit where it’s due
Of the 22 investors polled for this month’s Focus Group, seven feel that credit has become more important in their fund’s portfolio over the past five years, and a further 10 believe it has become slightly more important. Only two rate credit as less important.
