All IPE articles in June 2015 (Magazine)
View all stories from this issue.
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Features
Sovereign wonderland
Potential investors in Europe’s sovereign bond markets may feel they have stepped into Alice in Wonderland. Many sovereign debt markets are offering return-free risks, and negative bond yields make a mockery of traditional explanations of the time value of money. What we are seeing is the end result of two powerful but opposing forces within Europe that reflect the chaotic responses to the global financial crisis.
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Features
QE: Uncertainty is Queen
It is unsurprising that Dutch pension funds sought to voice their concerns about the effect of QE on their sector before that decision was ratified
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Special Report
What is risk parity?
All theory is grey, dear friend /And green the golden tree of life. The words of Mephistopheles in the first volume of Goethe’s Faust distinguish academia from the attractions and contradictions of the real world
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Special Report
Risk parity: Variations on a theme
Risk parity investing can be modified to work better in the current difficult environment
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Special Report
Tail risk parity
Risk parity approaches can be redesigned to tackle the possibility of extreme market events
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Features
From Our Perspective: Unity in opposition
They may not be wielding pitchforks but Europe’s pension fund community is of one mind: the stress test proposal of EIOPA is something they, their sponsors, their regulators and, above all, their members, do not need
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InterviewsStrategically speaking: NN Investment Partners
The rebranding of ING Investment Management, a well-recognised name in European asset management, is the epilogue to an intricate story that began during the financial crisis of the late 2000s
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Special Report
The language of infrastructure
Frederic Blanc-Brude argues that a new data and monitoring framework will help investors improve their decision making on infrastructure investments
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FeaturesHow we run our money: PFZW
PFZW’s decision to divest from hedge funds was just one element of a comprehensive investment overhaul. Peter Borgdorff and Jan Willem van Oostveen talk about their fund’s renewed strategy
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Special Report
Are risk parity funds staying true to their name?
There is a growing divide between the theory behind risk parity strategies and the investment products on offer
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Features
Infrastructure: Getting by with a little help from your friends
The UK government has long promised infrastructure assets for pension funds to invest, but with international schemes often larger, we looks at how domestic ones participate
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Features
No smoke without fire
There is a strange rhetoric surrounding the recent sell-off in European bonds, which pushed yields up for the first time in many months
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Asset Class Reports
Grexit and euro-zone ratings
Greece’s exit from the EU could cause other countries to follow, and ultimately lead to the destruction of monetary union
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Special Report
Euro-zone recovery: Insurance and repression
European insurers are finding ways to adapt to the prolonged period of low interest rates and unconventional monetary policy
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Features
First-quarter results: Equities lead the way, but pressures remain
Pension funds around Europe saw their asset levels boosted by the rise in share prices during the first quarter, but a range of factors has kept many funds under pressure on other fronts
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Special ReportELTIFs: Kick-starting Europe's economic growth
European Long-Term Investment Funds are designed to help kick-start economic growth by broadening the range of investors in infrastructure and research projects
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Features
Diary of an investor: Smart thinking
Last month I spoke to Katrine, who has taken over as CIO at Pension København, to discuss the co-operation agreement we signed a couple of years ago. When we finished talking about wind farms we discussed risk-and-return sources. Like some of the large Danish pension funds, PensionKøbenhavn has done a lot of work on this subject.
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Special Report
Risk Parity Funds: Mixed performance despite low volatility targets
Risk parity funds have experienced mixed performance in recent years despite targeting low volatility
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Special Report
Risk parity strategies making inroads in DC
UK pension schemes are increasingly attracted to risk parity funds. Are trustees and members have enough information to make informed decisions?
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Features
EIOPA ignores industry ire in stress test crusade
Would Europe’s pension funds be able to withstand a sudden reversal in asset prices, with the stock spreading across all developed nations?
