Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 288
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Special Report
Credit: Loan rangers
The disintermediation of credit markets in Europe is just beginning, finds Rachel Fixsen, and there is no guarantee that interests are aligned well enough to sustain the momentum
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Opinion Pieces
The countdown begins
The countdown has started. By the end of May, 751 members of the European Parliament will have been selected by as many of the 400m electors who care enough to vote.
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Opinion Pieces
Glide paths and targets
Target-date funds (TDFs) are so popular in the US that even the nation’s largest defined contribution (DC) pension system – the $400bn (€290bn) Thrift Savings Plan, the 401(k)-style retirement plan for federal staff – is thinking of making its TDF the default option for new employees. But with an increasingly diverse array of TDFs, concern is growing among plan sponsors and advisers about the level of fiduciary responsibility involved.
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Special Report
Credit: Bridge loans
Debt offers a different set of cash-flow risks for pension fund investors in infrastructure. Lynn Strongin Dodds looks at the variety of assets available and the regulatory background to investment decisions
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Features
Beyond the glib view
Credit rating agencies did not cover them- selves in glory in the financial crisis, particularly when it came to the rating of sub-prime credit instruments. While the main ones have taken steps to put their house in order, the EU has targeted the perceived mechanistic over-reliance of institutions on external ratings.
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Features
Three is a magic number
Ever since US 10-year yields bounced off of a low of 1.4% in July 2012, the investing commentariat has been predicting the end of the bond bull market and sky-high levels for benchmark rates.
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Features
Engaging with the engine of Europe
Of the nearly 270 signatories of the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment - which includes a pledge to be active, engaged shareholders - there are only six German pension funds. While the picture in neighbouring Austria, where only one fund has pledged allegiance, and Switzerland – with just three pension supporters – is comparably low, in terms of engagement, it is a matter of comparing apples with oranges.
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Features
Back to basics
The Herculean task of harmonising the funding rules for Europe’s defined benefit pension schemes has been officially decoupled from the planned IORP II Directive, to the relief of all those who would have to deal with the complex analytical framework needed to coordinate the rules. That framework would almost certainly have led to lower risk tolerance and a mass exodus from risk assets on the part of European pension funds.
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Features
Farmland, infrastructure and ESG
At this year’s National Association of Pension Funds Investment Conference, delegates gathered in Edinburgh looking to bridge ideas and investment strategies for the future. Sessions on smart beta, liability-driven investing (LDI) and multi-asset solutions were popular.
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Features
Minister courts schemes on PIP
Danny Alexander, a senior Treasury minister in the UK government, has called on pension funds to invest more in infrastructure.
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Features
IORP II: Stand by for a saga
Pity the poor European Commission when it announces its long-awaited plans for a complete upgrade of EU rules governing occupational pensions.
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Features
A few reactions…
The leaked draft of the IORP II Directive has generally received positive reactions from experts in the European pensions industry.
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Opinion Pieces
ESG lacks something
No, I haven’t had a damascene conversion to become an ESG critic. Rather, my argument is that the ESG (environment, social and governance) community needs to add another ‘E’, for economics.
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Features
A model but no debate
One of the most outspoken critics of pensions accounting and the IASB is Tim Bush. Since 2011, Bush, a former ICAEW Council member, and self-confessed MBA-group-think-phobe, has taken the lead on governance and financial analysis at PIRC. His assessment of accountancy’s shortcomings is disarmingly blunt – not only have accountants lost the big picture, they have the detail wrong.
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Opinion Pieces
Thomas Richter CEO BVI, Germany’s asset management association
“Auto enrolment would make sense in Germany and could develop through collective bargaining”
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Features
Can small still be beautiful?
Despite the well-documented benefits of consolidation, there are still thousands of pension funds with assets under €1bn. Given that most of them cannot gain scale efficiencies, what can they do to make the best of their situation?
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Features
Sailing towards sustainability
Antony Barker, of the UK Santander Group Pension Scheme, tells Jonathan Williams how his fund is on a path towards sustainability, and how property and consumer disposable income play a key role in the new asset allocation
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Country Report
Austria: Keeping it complicated
Austrian Pensionskassen portfolios are highly diverse, which not only makes it difficult to speak of ‘average performance’, but also complicates administration and liability management, writes Barbara Ottawa
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Country Report
Germany: Few heads above the parapet
While UK funds were involved in the shareholder spring, North American investors write open letters to company boards and Dutch and Norwegian pension investors blacklist firms. Germany’s occupational sector is less keen to be seen challenging businesses, finds Jonathan Williams
