Latest analysis – Page 26
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Opinion PiecesLetter from US: Short-term relief, long-term pain
The COVID-19 pandemic is having an immediate and transparent impact on American defined contribution plans. But it also has implications for defined benefit plans in the long run
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Opinion PiecesLong Term Matters: Investing in an age of pandemics
Pandemics are master classes in managing existential uncertainty. Being overwhelmed is ‘normal’. Here are seven actions that we can take as citizens and investment professionals. The focus is on the US and the UK: their governments are floundering. The unravelling in the US is dangerous for investors. Both the UK and the US are very responsive to the financial sector.
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FeaturesResearch: The new benchmarks
Sustainability is set to become the gold standard of investing
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AnalysisCoronavirus: Pension funds take comfort from relative health in turbulent times
European pension funds have underlined their position as long-term investors as they face unprecedented market turbulence and an economic downturn.
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Book ReviewBook review: Radical Uncertainty by John Kay and Mervyn King
Within the terms of their own analysis, the authors of Radical Uncertainty might be remembered for a prescience they could neither possess nor aspire to
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AnalysisPensions accounting: IASB faces disclosure tussle
The story of the latest work by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) on pensions disclosures starts last July when the board agreed on two specific disclosure amendments that it wanted to make to International Accounting Standard 19 (IAS 19), Employee Benefits.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from US: The Democratic agenda takes shape
“On day one, [Joe] Biden will use the full authority of the executive branch to make progress and significantly reduce emissions. Biden recognises we must go further, faster and more aggressively than ever before, by (among other things) requiring public companies to disclose climate risks and the greenhouse gas emissions in their operations and supply chains.” That is Joe Biden’s ‘Plan for a Clean Energy Revolution and Environmental Justice’ as it appears on joebiden.com, the official campaign website.
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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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Opinion PiecesInvesting in an age of pandemics
Pandemics are master classes in managing existential uncertainty. Being overwhelmed is ‘normal’. Here are seven actions that we can take as citizens and investment professionals. The focus is on the US and the UK: their governments are floundering. The unravelling in the US is dangerous for investors. Both the UK and the US are very responsive to the financial sector.
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AnalysisEquities – Innovation frenzy in race for survival
Companies must cope with today’s unprecedented pace of technological disruption and rapidly evolving consumer expectations to stay in business
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AnalysisEquities – The valuation conundrum
The huge gap in current equity valuations, depending on which metrics are used, presents a tricky challenge for investors
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AnalysisCheers and concerns over DWP climate amendments to pension bill
Climate change-related amendments to draft pension fund legislation tabled by the UK government have prompted words of welcome as well as concern from the pension industry.
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FeaturesLong term matters: To investors who care about the climate crisis – act before COP26
Rather belatedly, we have a new president of COP26 in the form of Alok Sharma, former UK international development secretary. But this sorry saga seems quite symbolic – we know that we need to do something big but we can’t quite get our act together.
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FeaturesIntegrated reporting: Accounting goes sustainable
Combining conventional financial reporting with non-financial reporting in a single integrated framework presents challenges
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Opinion PiecesLetter from the US: Lower rates, deeper holes
Something unprecendented happened in the US in the first weeks of January when the Milliman 100 PFI discount rate fell 35bps to a 20-year low of 2.85% “It was a very poor month for defined benefit (DB) plans, not a good start of the year and it dug an even deeper hole in their financial situation,” points out Zorast Wadia, principal, consulting actuary at Milliman. He is also author of the Milliman 100 pension funding index (PFI), an annual study of the 100 largest DB pension plans sponsored by US public companies.
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Book ReviewBook review: The Signs Were There - Spilling the saucerful of secrets
Tim Steer’s romp through the world of dodgy accounting practices and share price debacles is beyond shocking. He brings together his forensic examinations of publicly quoted companies’ accounts, and demonstrates clearly that “the signs were (indeed) there” in a way that induces reader incredulity.
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AnalysisFixed income, rates, currencies: China’s woe hits rest of world
While the speed and breadth of the spread of infection was unknown, it was apparent that the outbreak of the new coronavirus, named COVID-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO), would cause considerable disruption to economic activity in China.
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AnalysisBlackRock goes big on climate risk
BlackRock announced last month it would be placing sustainability at the centre of its investment approach, and a host of measures to go with that.
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AnalysisEFRAG: Reaching a compromise
It is hard not to feel some sympathy for the technical staff working on the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group’s pensions research project
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Opinion PiecesLetter From US: New Secure Act – a step in the right direction
New rules encourage employers to offer annuities in 401(k)-type retirement plans
