Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 360
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Features
I polder, you polder
In October, the Dutch pension system was named the best in the world for the third year running by the Melbourne Mercer Global Pension index. But despite its top ranking, the Dutch system scored less on adequacy and sustainability than the previous year and its overall index value slipped from 78.3 to 77.9. In the Netherlands, as elsewhere, pension provision is under threat from a rising tide of troubles, including an ageing (and long-lived) population, low interest rates and fretful financial markets.
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Features
A precarious balance
We have heard much in recent years about institutions that were, or are, ‘too big to fail’, particularly in 2008 when Bear Stearns collapsed, followed later that year by the entry of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into government conservatorship, the bailout of AIG and the collapse without rescue of Lehman Brothers.
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Features
Heightened scrutiny on derivatives collateral
The use of credit support annexe (CSA) agreements, defining the collateral that can be posted in bilateral over-the-counter derivative (OTC) trades, has increased significantly over recent years as pension funds have made increasing use of derivatives.
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Features
NAPF: Preparing for auto-enrolment
The EU and DC were two of the most hotly debated topics at October’s National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) conference in Manchester.
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Features
New chairman rings in the changes at AbA
Attendees of this year’s autumn conference of the German pension fund association Arbeitsgemeinschaft betriebliche Altersversorgung (AbA) in Cologne found an organisation preparing for a new pension era in Germany and across Europe.
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Features
Scepticism over cross-border schemes
The desire to implement defined contribution (DC) pension plans is growing among companies around the world, while the necessity, one day, of a pan-European DC scheme is at the front of industry minds. But even though some pension providers have already paved the way, the journey is a long one.
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Opinion Pieces
Long-Term Matters: Executive Pay
Why should investment professionals care about the ‘#Occupy’ protests? The majority of the public – ie, our customers – share some of the protesters’ views, even if they are not on the streets. One potent driver is the huge growth in income inequality over recent decades. With this comes disgust with politicians for being the primary ‘enablers’.
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Features
Leave it to technocrats?
Those who believe that governance by technocrat will solve Italy’s ills should think again. The IASB is currently working on a three-bucket approach for financial asset impairment. The idea is that newly originated or purchased loans – the model must work for both – are allocated by an entity to one of three buckets. And in very general terms, assets will move from one bucket to another in order to reflect deteriorating credit quality and credit losses. This is the board’s third stab at developing an impairment model since 2009.
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Features
Persistency via operational excellence
In the final article in the current series, Jervis Smith and Amin Rajan highlight the role of third-party administrators as innovation partners
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Opinion Pieces
Fiona Stewart, OECD
Fiona Stewart, principal administrator at the OECD, considers why many institutional investors have failed to live up to their long-term investment potential.
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Features
Too much of a good thing?
A well structured fund can enjoy a return premium of up to 1%. What governance structures should smaller pension funds aspire to? Gail Moss reports
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Features
Alight for full funding
Markus Hübscher, CEO of the Swiss Federal Railways pension fund, told Nina Röhrbein about his fund’s restructuring and new internal governance structure
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Features
Cash in the attic
Squeezing a return out of cash can expose funds to unexpected risk. But Charlotte Moore suggests that using it for strategic optionality removes the need to take risk in the search for yield
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Special Report
Turning Japanese?
Technical signals from the bond markets and fundamental economic parallels have spooked some commentators about the ‘Japanisation’ of the world. Anthony Harrington asks if we should be bracing ourselves for the inevitable ‘lost decades’
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Special Report
And what about Japan itself?
Clearly the view a fund manager takes of Japan’s short to medium term macro prospects has a strong determining influence on their view of Japanese equities. Simon Edelsten, senior fund manager of the Artemis Global Select Fund, likes the fact that neither Japan – nor the rest of Asia – has adopted the EU’s penchant for austerity, or seen their banks have to de-lever to the same extent.
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Special Report
Too early to tell
It’s clear to everyone that globalisation is re-shaping the world economy. But Maha Khan Phillips asks questions of the consensus around which sectors will benefit
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Special Report
The shipping news
The shipping business would seem to be directly linked to the health of the world economy. Why would you want to invest as the world slows down? Lynn Strongin Dodds finds that it is not that simple
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Special Report
Rich diversity
The bewildering variety of multi-asset funds can make them difficult to compare. But Martin Steward thinks that 2011 has revealed some useful patterns
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Asset Class Reports
Hedge Funds: Carving a new niche
Hedge funds are booming – but funds of funds are not. Joseph Mariathasan outlines the ways in which the intermediaries are re-thinking their role
