Latest analysis – Page 63
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Features
Thinking the unthinkable
I have lost a lot of money in recent years by listening to the collective wisdom of the Anglo-Saxon high priests of finance on the subject of the euro. They have been universally critical, and frankly ridiculed its chances of survival. As Europe’s sovereign debt crisis has unfolded, the crowing satisfaction from these quarters has been deafening. And yet the euro not only refuses to die, but goes from strength to strength against the dollar. Maybe it is time to turn to an iconoclast to understand what is really going on.
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Features
Pragmatism redefines active-passive
With investors losing trillions in the 2007-09 bear market, they are questioning whether active management delivers value. In the process, they are also recognising that active and passive management are but a means to an end. What really matters is the client’s own investment philosophy and the combination of active and passive strategies that is consistent with it.
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Features
The small print on alternatives
Pension schemes spare no expense buying ‘proper advice’ on investment matters – but often neglect to seek it on their investment vehicles. Winston Penhall outlines the legal niceties of private equity and hedge fund investments
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Opinion Pieces
Clearer position on derivatives
Powerful forces are pushing both for and against an opt-out for pension funds from central clearing requirements in proposed legislation on market infrastructure, making it anyone’s guess as to the final result. However, the European parliamentary rapporteur’s softening of position must be reasonable grounds for hope.
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Features
Liam Kennedy: A tale of two CIOs
APG in the Netherlands and Hermes in the UK – two pension management organisations that are owned by their largest client, respectively the largest pension funds in their two countries.
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Features
Martin Steward: A tragedy of errors
When three of the world’s major central banks do three different things for three different reasons, it’s a fair bet that at least one of them is making a policy error. But which one is making the error, how serious is it, and do the other two need to worry?
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Features
Nina Röhrbein: Bitter side of sugar, grains and cocoa beans
With food and oil prices setting new record highs, many investors find it hard to resist the lure of commodity investments nowadays.
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Opinion Pieces
Making DC kings
Fidelity is still the king of the US retirement market, at number one among the defined contribution (DC) plans with over $940bn (€651bn) of assets in custody as record keeper at the end of 2010, 12% more than the year before. And there is not a traditional bank among the ...
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Features
From our perspective: Meet the governance police
Staffing a company board is many times more an art than it is a science. Appointments largely seek to balance sector specialisation with wider business experience, length and breadth of experience, and softer skills such as communication and advocacy. Other aspects, such as gender diversity, are of growing importance, as seen in the UK’s 30% Club and in Scandinavian countries that have minimum appointment figures for women.
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Features
MPs grill experts in pensions row
“I am sure Mr Bosch would have liked it very much if we’d have endorsed this, but we did not. We never endorse these types of reports.” With these words, Joanne Kellermann, director at Dutch pension supervisor and central bank DNB, distanced herself from a controversial report by consultant Frits Bosch that was commissioned by Dutch news show Zembla. Based on Bosch’s analysis, the show, which aired in February, contended that hundreds of billions of Dutch pension savings had “vanished”. K
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Features
Dutch and Australians bemoan 2/20 fees
Australian and Dutch pension funds believe many alternative asset managers’ fee structures are “grossly” excessive, says Australia’s Centre for Investor Education (CIE). Jamie Nemtsas, director, said the 2/20-style fee structure was a “common stress point” for attendees at the recent Superannuation and Pension Funds Summit on Dutch and Australian Cooperation and Alliance.
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Features
Meet the new investment office
Saker Nusseibeh, head of investment at Hermes Fund Managers, sees something wrong in the current system of pension fund management, which he believes prioritises product proliferation and a mentality of ‘buyer beware’ over trusted advice.
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Features
Going back to basics
Angelien Kemna, CIO of €277bn Dutch pension fund manager APG, is going back to basics. “Pension fund management is not about chasing mandates. We need to ask ourselves: why exactly did we have these investments again? What is their purpose?”
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Features
Celine Piquemal-Prade, Comgest: ‘We haven’t changed for 25 years’
There are two big growth managers based in Paris that begin with the letter ‘C’. One has quadrupled its staff since 2003 and quadrupled its assets under management since 2008, lavishly entertains an army of IFAs at its annual investor conference, and enjoys high-profile advertising and commenting in the press across Europe. The other is Comgest.
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Features
Dial-a-psychic
International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) workplans have tended to be less reliable sources of information than a dial-a-psychic.
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Opinion Pieces
Martijn Tans, Director, Aegon Global Pensions
“Most plans have actively addressed the issue of equity and interest rate risk. Those plans should now include longevity risk in their deliberations”
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Features
What next after fixed income?
Frank Schnattinger outlines the results of IPE Institutional Investment’s 2011 survey of the German institutional market
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Opinion Pieces
Defusing Short-Termism
The European Commission’s (EC) new green paper, ‘The EU Corporate Governance Framework’, clearly aims to encourage company owners to take a more active role in influencing management.
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Opinion Pieces
Battle to stave off crisis
Andrew Cuomo is one of the most admired recently-elected state governors – primarily for his efforts to get the budget under control and bring taxes down.
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Features
Martin Steward: Longevity risk, rewarded and unrewarded
“You must hedge your unrewarded risks!” pension funds are told. But what are unrewarded risks? “Interest rate, inflation and longevity risk, for starters.” Sure, but why do we call them ‘unrewarded risks’?
