All IPE articles in June 2014 (Magazine) – Page 2

  • Interviews

    Pragmatic approaches

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    How do you manage your liabilities?

  • Interviews

    An artisan with solutions

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    Where one still finds asset managers attached to banks, the former tend to be junior partners. Not so at William Blair, whose founder always had an ambition both to finance and invest in small growth companies from day one in 1935.

  • Asset Class Reports

    Developed Market Sovereign Bonds: 'No attempt to challenge facts'

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    Moody’s Albert Metz responds to UniCredit’s paper on subjective bias in sovereign bond credit ratings

  • Opinion Pieces

    Bart Heenk, Managing director, Avida International

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    “A balanced scorecard enables trustees to monitor, assess and improve outsourced services”

  • Features

    Put the trust back

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    Being outside the EU doesn’t mean you escape regulation. Swiss pension funds are complaining about excessive regulation – in this case, the burden is homemade and only to some extent fuelled by the financial crisis. 

  • Special Report

    Liability-Driven Investment: Banks and the linkers market

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    As government linker issuance shrinks, Harris Gorre argues that banks are in a much better position to issue secured, structured bonds with index-linked yields than corporates are

  • Special Report

    Liability-Driven Investment: The de-risking bear fight

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    As pension schemes line up to de-risk, Emma Cusworth finds the supply-and-demand dynamic on the UK yield curve is causing aggressive competitive behaviour, distorting bond market valuations

  • Special Report

    Risk and Portfolio Construction: Beefing up the midfield

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    Investors that need both to limit the volatility of their funding-levels and achieve returns in excess of their liabilities face the twin challenge of low-growth and rock-bottom interest rates. In response, Lynn Strongin Dodds finds them adapting their traditional ‘barbell’ portfolios, albeit slowly, into something more broadly diversified

  • Features

    Falling (further) behind

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    “Pensions are safe”, Germany’s one-time pensions minister, Norbert Blüm, famously said in the 1990s. That ill-judged statement still influences discussions about the German state pension system even today.

  • Features

    Scania and the benefits of independence

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    Volkswagen’s bid for heavy vehicle manufacturer Scania has divided Swedish institutional investors, with the division no more apparent than among its buffer funds.

  • Features

    What are the benefits?

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    The European Commission unveiled its proposals for a uniform pension benefit statement this spring. The idea has had a mixed reception, as Gail Moss finds

  • Features

    Smaller firms, better mousetraps

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    While innovation can take place in companies of any size, smaller companies sometimes get the edge through fresh thinking and nimble structures. Christopher O’Dea finds that innovation opportunities are abundant both abroad and at home 

  • Features

    The big picture

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    The dovishness of the developed markets (DM) central banks continues to be one of the main themes for capital markets.

  • Asset Class Reports

    Developed Market Sovereign Bonds: A damaging subjectivity

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    Credit rating agencies make decisions about sovereign debt issuers based on objective, fundamental data and subjective judgement. Vasileios Gkionakisof UniCreditassesses each factor’s influence on decisions and argues that subjective input has been highly distorting

  • Spreads show risk pricing
    Asset Class Reports

    Developed Market Sovereign Bonds: From ruin to recovery

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    Fundamentals, technicals and sentiment have come together to change the fortunes of peripheral euro-zone bonds. Joseph Mariathasan finds that, while these markets may never again be considered core, yield-hungry investors are happy to provide continuing support

  • Asset Class Reports

    Developed Market Sovereign Bonds: Dollar doldrums

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    Central banks holding growing foreign exchange reserves around the world will need to find alternatives to US dollar assets. Joseph Mariathasan reports on the best candidates

  • Country Report

    Switzerland: A dying breed

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    Smaller companies are pulling out of pensions thanks to cost, regulation and demographics. Barbara Ottawa charts the trend

  • Features

    Liability-Driven Investment: This sprint finish could get brutal

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    Things seem to have gone pretty well for UK pension schemes during 2013. A combination of rising bond yields and an equity market rally meant that, at the least, funding levels didn’t get any worse, and at best got schemes two or three percentage points closer to the finishing line. 

  • Special Report

    Risk and Portfolio Construction: Keep calm and carry on

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    Against the broad consensus that rising bond yields have to be bad for bonds, Charlotte Moore finds that being short duration can be punishing if those yields rise more slowly than the market expects

  • Features

    Carrot or stick: the shift to passive

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    Earlier this year, the UK pension and asset management industries watched as the government revealed its vision for the 89 Local Government Pension Schemes (LGPS) in England and Wales.