Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 274
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Interviews
Three years of the 300
Liam Kennedy spoke to Alan Brown and Saker Nusseibeh, two architects of the 300 Club of investment professionals who seek to challenge mainstream investment practice
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Interviews
Experience, leveraged
Babson Capital immediately springs to mind for institutional investors around the world seeking global fixed-income managers, but that is a key goal for CEO Tom Finke. Having raised $5bn (€3.9bn) from European investors alone in 2013 it certainly looks well-positioned to one day be ranked among the market leaders.
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Features
The big picture
ECB president Draghi is certainly making a name for himself with his market-jolting, memorable speeches. In 2012, his strident call that the euro would be saved “whatever it takes” marked, or arguably triggered, Europe’s move out of its crisis. In August, Draghi made a speech in Jackson Hole that surprised many with the nature some of its statements, in particular his opining on Europe’s fiscal policy.
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Features
Post-crisis or pre-crisis?
History warns us that the next crisis is just around the corner. Arturo Bris outlines the shapes it is taking and what we can do to mitigate it
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Features
Focus Group: Contending with the ‘do-gooders’
Just over half of respondents polled for this month’s Focus Group said their fund has an overall ESG policy. Around the same number have an active engagement policy for corporate governance issues – and 21 have decided to exclude specific investment areas due to ESG considerations.
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Features
Diary of an Investor: A happy median
A couple of weeks ago, my old friend Pim came over to the Wasserdicht offices in Utrecht to tell me about his new proposition. I’ve known Pim for many years and he has pitched to me many times, although each pitch has been from a different company.
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Features
Integrity matters
While they have been few in number, the various scandals at European pension funds have brought to light the need for clear and coherent codes of conduct for pension trustees and staff, writes Gail Moss
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News
EIOPA expected to publish consultation on holistic balance sheet
Wording in IORP II Directive protecting schemes from solvency requirements removed
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Features
DC plans in search of credibility
Worldwide, diversity increasingly characterises defined contribution (DC) schemes. There are employee-managed plans in Hong Kong, Japan, the UK and the US. There are trustee-led plans in Australia, Brazil, Chile, continental Europe and South Africa. There are state-supervised DC plans in China, India, Malaysia and Singapore.
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Opinion Pieces
Woody at work
Woody is the villain of the new book The US Pension Crisis – What We Need to Do Now to Save America’s Pensions, by Ronald Ryan. According to Ryan, Woody is the “pension pencil” or “the weapon of mass destruction in financial America”, used since the 1990s for accounting gimmicks that conceal the real financial situation of pension funds.
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Opinion Pieces
A stinging rebuke
The private pension product sector is “persistently the worst-performing retail services market of all throughout the European Union”, according to the European Commission, as cited in a new report.
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Special Report
Top 1000: Austria - The fight against inertia
Every Austrian born after 1955 who has accrued pension benefits in the state pension system now has a new account, the Pensionskonto. And for the first time, each citizen has also received a letter in which they are informed about their pension benefits from the first pillar pay-as-you-go scheme.
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Special Report
Top 1000: Belgium - Plenty more to do
The new government has received a raft of recommendations to fix the disparities in the country’s pension system. Is it too little too late?
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Special Report
Top 1000: Denmark - Ahead on Solvency II
The regulator and pensions association have been working on a standard solvency model that guarantees equal protection for policyholders. Many elements of Solvency II are in place.
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Special Report
Top 1000: Finland - A focus on solvency and governance
Implementation of Solvency II continues apace. Wide-ranging reforms will raise the retirement age and there has been a focus on transparency following a governance scandal.
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Special Report
Top 1000: France - Growth for PERCO
Supplementary PERCO plans have seen strong growth but funded pension schemes are still concerned about Solvency II.
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Special Report
Top 1000: Germany - Issues with AIFMD implementation
New regulations implementing the AIFM Directive might limit the use of certain alternative investment vehicles.
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Special Report
Top 1000: Iceland - Countdown to the end of capital controls?
Despite their considerable overseas asset holdings, Iceland’s pension funds remain heavily invested in a domestic market showing signs of overheating.
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Special Report
Top 1000: Ireland - The state steps in
As a new regulatory structure beds down, minor but important changes have been made to reintroduce equity into the pensions system.
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Features
Focus Group: Political risk versus reward
Unsurprisingly for anyone who has caught a news broadcast during 2014, 20 of the investors polled for this month’s Focus Group think that political risk has increased over the past 12 months, with the five remaining funds saying it has stayed about the same. None feels that it has decreased.
