Investment
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FeaturesUK creates social factors template for pension investors
Environmental and governance risks receive much attention, but UK and other European institutional investors have focused less on social factors and their complexities.
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FeaturesPrivate credit secondaries come of age
Since the secondaries market came into existence, private equity has been the dominant asset class, but the tide is turning. It is finally time for private equity’s more youthful counterpart, private credit, to receive more of our attention. The private credit secondaries market borrows various elements from its older sibling, including best practices and deal structures, and it is now demanding the spotlight as awareness of the asset class increases.
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InterviewsThematics Asset Management’s CIO on themes and investment challenges
Out of the 19 boutiques businesses belonging to the Natixis Investment Management franchise, Thematics Asset Management is by no means the smallest, but it is not exactly a juggernaut, managing €3.3bn of assets at the end of last year. Yet, it is actively contributing to what could be a crucial evolutionary step for global investors.
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InterviewsModelling shows net-zero investing can be profitable
Since the acceptance of the Paris Agreement in 2015, which bound nations to a legal commitment to reduce global temperatures, there has been a clear shift towards net-zero investing. While socially responsible investments are crucial for the mitigation of climate change, recent calls to row back on ESG funds suggest some hesitation.
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FeaturesUS economy continues to surprise
The resilience of the US economy continues to confound observers. The Federal Reserve’s 11 hikes in interest rates over the course of 2022 and 2023 were implemented to rein in economic strength and to stifle inflation. Scroll forward to the second quarter of 2024 and both inflation and economic activity are still higher than expected.
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FeaturesIPE Quest Expectations Indicator - May 2024
EU parliamentary elections are approaching fast. Current polls predict a shift to the right, with the current centrist parties remaining dominant and the extremist right overtaking the Eurosceptics. US President Donald Trump is still liable to be convicted in a criminal case, but his poll figures are rising.
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Asset Class ReportsEmerging market equities: investors grapple with peak political risk
As billions of people head to the polls in 2024, how will politics influence flows to emerging market equities?
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Asset Class ReportsIs India’s equity market now the new China in investors’ eyes?
Better governance and a clear economic path may put India in the lead
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Asset Class ReportsA changing Saudi Arabia proves attractive for investors
Equity market is starting to open to investors as the country liberalises strict rules
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FeaturesInvestors are paying for hedge funds' reluctance to use hurdle rates
Although two years have now passed since the US Federal Reserve started rapidly hiking interest rates, the likelihood that your hedge fund manager will have a ‘hurdle rate’ – a minimum rate of return before performance fees kick in – has not changed. Only a quarter of hedge funds, by our count, have such a threshold in place and the practice does not yet show signs of becoming more widespread, even though the risk-free rate has now exceeded 4% for well over a year.
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InterviewsMercer’s Rich Nuzum: soft skills are the hardest in investment governance
Mercer’s recent acquisition of Vanguard’s outsourced chief investment officer (CIO) business and its sale of two administration units points to changes in asset management as firms continue to focus on core activities.
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InterviewsMeasuring the impact of non financial factors on GDP growth
In their paper entitled Modeling the Links Between Economic Growth, Socio-economic Dynamics and Environmental Dimensions: a Panel VAR Approach, the authors attempt to quantify direct and indirect causalities between economic growth and extra-financial dimensions, including demographics, biodiversity, climate change, political stability, inequalities and economic growth.
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FeaturesIPE Quest Expectations Indicator - April 2024
The shadow of the US presidential elections is longer than normal because Trump is under several legal clouds. He could still get barred from participating but that seems unlikely. He does have a liquidity problem, a self-destructive streak, a mercurial character and no credible alternative waiting in the wings, though.
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FeaturesReluctance to drop interest rates disappoints the markets
US rates markets entered the year enthusiastically pricing in over 160 basis points of cuts through 2024, and have since had to push back hard on both the timing and magnitude of interest rate cuts now expected by year-end.
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FeaturesAn inflection point for India bonds
The impending inclusion of Indian government bonds (IGBs) in JP Morgan’s widely tracked $240bn (€220bn) Govern ment Bond Index-Emerging Markets (GBI-EM) index is seen as a milestone. However, while some asset managers hope it is the beginning of a more open investment culture, others are more circumspect.
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InterviewsMuzinich’s Tatjana Greil Castro on credit fundamentals
In one of the meeting rooms of the London office of Muzinich & Co are displayed a series of bond certificates from the past.
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FeaturesContrasting global economic growth fortunes
Economic growth patterns across the world paint a picture of contrasts, ranging from surprisingly robust in the US to soft and struggling in China, with the stagnant euro area narrowly avoiding a technical recession after posting zero GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2023, following a 0.1% decline the previous quarter.
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FeaturesIPE Quest Expectations Indicator - March 2024
Climate change is coming to a trend break as the low-hanging fruit has been picked.
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FeaturesSecuritised credit keeps on shining
For a market with a difficult past, some could even say an image-problem, securitised credit has been performing remarkably well in recent years.
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InterviewsAI’s future in investment management is evolutionary
The explosion of ChatGPT-style large language models (LLMs) has ignited a heated debate over the future of artificial intelligence (AI) in investment management and its role in institutional investor portfolios. However, amid the noise, a groundbreaking application of AI has quietly arisen, which has the potential to revolutionise the industry.
