All From Our Perspective articles – Page 3
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AnalysisPerspective: Four difficult questions facing pension fund investors
The fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic poses many difficult questions for investors. Pension funds will probably have to reconsider many long-standing assumptions. These are some of the most intractable.
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AnalysisPerspective: COVID-19: Funds seek solace in the long term
COVID-19 is forcing European pension funds to put on a brave face as asset portfolios and funding ratios plummet, and regulators soften their stances.
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AnalysisPerspective: Inspired actuaries form COVID-19 rapid response group
At the onset of Europe becoming the epicentre of the coronavirus crisis, there were individuals in one profession that were keen to act as quickly as possible in response to what they saw “could well be humanity’s burning platform for change”.
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AnalysisPerspective: EIOPA’s COVID-19 address reassures
A coronavirus crisis statement from EIOPA addressed to national supervisors drew positive words from lobby groups PensionsEurope and the European Association of Paritarian Institutions (AEIP).
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InterviewsUK auto enrolment: The architecture of a reform
The UK’s auto-enrolment policy has been successful. But this success has been no accident, as a new research project shows
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InterviewsPerspective: Striving for net zero
Günther Thallinger, a member of the board of management at Allianz and chair of the steering group of the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, spoke in Davos about the role of asset owners in reducing carbon emissions
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FeaturesPerspective: André Hoffmann – Green results, not greenbacks
Roche heir and pharmaceutical tycoon André Hoffmann outlines his view of a more sustainable model of capitalism
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FeaturesPerspective: Carlo Cottarelli
Carlo Cottarelli, the Italian economist and former IMF director, says fixing the European economy will mean taking difficult decisions
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FeaturesPerspective: Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan
As he ends a six-year stint at the helm of Ontario Teachers’ and prepares for retirement, Ron Mock reflects on the alignment of interests between the organisation and its stakeholders
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FeaturesGovernment Pension Investment Fund: Widening the reach
The president of Japan’s €1.3trn Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) reflects on the challenges of century-long stewardship
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FeaturesIPE Perspective: Two sides to the MMT premise
Is there any merit in functional finance versus classical economic theory?
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FeaturesFrom Our Perspective: Pension roads to Rome
Around the beginning of the 2000s enthusiasm for pension funding was at a high. As Germany took measures to unwind the cosy ‘Rhineland capitalism’ cross-share-holdings, book reserve pension liabilities seemed like yesterday’s solution
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Features
From Our Perspective: Two decades of shifting perspectives
This spring marks 20 years since the first issue of IPE. Our founders Piers Diacre and Fennell Betson started this publication with an assumption that funded pension systems would become more widespread in time, leading to increased diversification and a need for clear, well-researched and well-presented information.
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FeaturesFrom Our Perspective: Be wary of shredding the regs
The Trump administration maintains that some of the Dodd-Frank legislation brought in following the financial crisis should be repealed or amended
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FeaturesFrom Our Perspective: Packaging pensions ‘just right’
In 2001, the Myners report raised the issue of the investment value chain and how pension funds could improve outcomes through their governance structure. It also highlighted market inefficiencies in areas like peer-group herding and investment consulting. The interaction between fiduciary duty and the provision of institutional investment services had not been explored so extensively before and the report resonated widely outside the UK.
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FeaturesFrom Our Perspective: FCA raises the game
In 2001, the Myners report raised the issue of the investment value chain and how pension funds could improve outcomes through their governance structure. It also highlighted market inefficiencies in areas like peer-group herding and investment consulting
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Features
Who’s afraid of securitisation?
The 1933 Disney animation The Three Little Pigs featured Fiddler and Fifer, who believed their straw houses were safe from a marauding wolf. The movie popularised the song Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf; as readers will be aware, the pigs’ straw houses were not safe from the wolf, who blew them down.
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FeaturesRegulatory monoculture and systemic risk
What is the connection between tropical fruit and systemic risk? In 1990, when East German citizens demonstrated for freedom and democracy, the banana became a potent symbol of the basic level of prosperity to which they aspired
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FeaturesFrom Our Perspective: How transparent?
Gerard van Olphen, CEO of APG, contends that the Dutch pension sector is in denial about the need for transparency. The same accusation could be levelled against pension funds in other places.
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Features
From Our Perspective: Brexit adds to the pressure
Future observers might point to the 23 June EU referendum as a turning point for UK occupational pensions. The fall in Gilt yields has added pain to trustees and sponsors, vindicating those who had hedging strategies in place
