All IPE articles in June 2014 (Magazine) – Page 3

  • Special Report

    Liability-Driven Investment: Caught short

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    Pension funds recognise that they are exposed to movements in long-term interest rates when they enter into swap contracts – that is the point of the hedge. But Emma Cusworth draws attention to the importance of volatility in the short-dated floating leg too

  • Features

    Rates of change

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    Carolyn Tavares argues that the roller-coaster start to 2014, with its disconnect between economic indicators and bond yields, makes the case for holding to strategic, funding level-based de-risking programmes

  • Special Report

    Risk and Portfolio Construction: Rates of change

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    To a large extent today the question of what to do in portfolio construction is really a question of what to do about interest rates.

  • Special Report

    Risk and Portfolio Construction: A corner turned

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    The consensus is that 2012 saw the trough of the 30-year downdraft in interest rates. Daniel Ben-Ami tests the strength of this conviction and describes the scenarios that could threaten it

  • Special Report

    Risk and Portfolio Construction: From solo to tango

    June 2014 (Magazine)

     As the bond markets move from bullish to bearish, David Turner asks if we need new assumptions about asset class correlations

  • Special Report

    Risk and Portfolio Construction: A new era for risk parity

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    Jennifer Bollen asks whether the end of the bond bull market signals the death of the traditional risk parity model

  • Special Report

    Risk and Portfolio Construction: Risk parity preferences

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    The asset allocation strategy can reduce drawdowns, but doesn’t improve long-term returns, argues Andrew Clare. Moreover, those findings are reversed when risk parity is applied within an asset class

  • Special Report

    Risk and Portfolio Construction: Rising interest

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    Chris Redmond asks whether absolute return bonds could play a bigger role in institutional portfolios

  • Opinion Pieces

    Lighting dark corners

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    The European Commission’s planned revisions to rules on shareholder rights aim to encourage a culture of long-term equity investment across the EU.

  • Features

    Counting on the krona

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    Erik Callert, chief investment officer of SPP Livförsäkring, tells Jonathan Williams how an overhaul of its portfolio left it better equipped to deal with Solvency II

  • Country Report

    Switzerland: And now for the details

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    Switzerland’s AV2020 reform programme remains contentious and politically charged, according to Barbara Ottawa. But some are still holding out for a depoliticisation of the process

  • Opinion Pieces

    TIAA-CREF expands

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    Six years after taking the helm as president and CEO of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association – College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF), Roger Ferguson announced the acquisition of Nuveen Investments in April for $6.25bn (€4.5bn), including debt.

  • Features

    Inflated expectations

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    Investors often assume that inflation protection comes as standard with infrastructure investments. Vivian Nicoli warns that it depends on a number of variables and may come at the price of lower expected nominal returns

  • Features

    Triumph of hope over experience

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    Book review: Money Mania: Booms, Panics and Busts from Ancient Rome to the Great Meltdown, Bob Swarup (Bloomsbury, £20)

  • Country Report

    Switzerland: Securities lending in focus

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    Only months before legislation on executive pay and shareholder voting comes into force, Jonathan Williams finds an industry uncertain about whether it will be forced to vote shares, and how new rules will affect securities lending

  • Features

    Focus Group: Do you get what you pay for?

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    Asset management offers poorer value for money than other service industries, if IPE’s latest Focus Group survey results are anything to go by. 

  • Features

    Focus Group: Do you get what you pay for?

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    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.  

  • Features

    High frequency problems

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    High frequency trading (HFT) has scuttled into the limelight this year since the publication of Flash Boys, Michael Lewis’ recent book on the subject. While most people agree that faster, smarter trading is generally good, and that rigged markets are an entirely bad thing, there is by no means agreement where HFT fits in.

  • Features

    Fuelling risk

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    Investors need to consider the extent to which their portfolios are exposed to rising climate-change risk, writes Mark Nicholls

  • Country Report

    Switzerland: A home game

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    An emphasis on domestic investments has left Swiss Pensionskassen with relatively stable returns. Jonathan Williams asks if there are opportunities outside traditional domestic fixed income, equity and real estate