Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 328
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Features
Storm-ready
Devastating natural phenomena are measured with two types of intensity scale. Hurricanes have the Saffir-Simpson scale for wind speed, for example, but also the Fujita scale that measures property damage.
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Features
I know it when I see it
In 1964, Justice Potter Stewart, weighing in on the possible obscenity of the film Les Amants, wrote: “I shall not attempt to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description ‘hard-core pornography’. But I know it when I see it.”
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Features
Generational imbalances
Nowadays, it is much harder to define the broad interest groups that are representative of a country as a whole. Previous decades were notable for the division between capital and labour, which persists in the consensual political and decision-making models of continental Europe. But tripartite decision-making between employers, unions and government now seems rather antiquated as membership of organised labour groups has declined over the past 20-30 years and western economies have deindustrialised.
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Features
Dutch pension system knocked off its perch
The Netherlands, after leading the Melbourne Mercer Global Pensions Index for three years in a row, has been dethroned by Denmark – a new entry and the first country to ever claim the top grade.
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Features
Denmark: not one to rest on its laurels
The Danish pension system is the envy of many developed countries. Ranked as the world’s best by Melbourne Mercer, the system also won plaudits from the OECD in September for being home to the best-performing pension funds. But far from resting on their laurels, politicians, regulators and the funds are constantly trying to improve.
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Features
Falling Irish yields scupper pension relief
Ahead of Ireland’s successful, if timid, re-entry into the bond market in July, some within the pensions industry expressed concerns that the government was seeking to ‘incentivise’ investment in Irish debt through the new funding regime for defined benefit schemes.
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Features
LGPS could boost infrastructure by up to 15%
UK local authority funds could soon see investment regulations loosened, allowing a further £20bn (€25bn) in assets to be allocated to infrastructure, according to the department for communities and local government (DCLG).
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Features
Institutions suited to bridge the lending gap
Infrastructure as an asset class is at a crossroads. While European banks traditionally provided debt to infrastructure projects pre-2008, the financial crisis and new regulation requiring banks to hold larger amounts of capital have changed the rules.
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Opinion Pieces
Long Term Matters: A preventable surprise
The world has been hit recently by a tsunami of corporate disaster. Then came the LIBOR scandal.
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Features
Pensions Accounting: Some good IAS19 news
And the good news is praise for IAS19. As an antidote to the usual depressive outlook of this column, this month we have 800 words about what IAS19 does well.
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Features
Adapt now or fall by the wayside
Aymeric Poizot argues that to stay competitive, asset managers must act swiftly to re-shape their activities to deal with new challenges being thrown up by rapidly changing market conditions
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Features
Insurance inspiration
Building an internal model under Solvency II costs time and money. Cécile Sourbes asks what pension funds can learn as insurers edge towards implementing the new framework
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FeaturesHBS: room for improvement
The concept of a holistic balance sheet is intellectually tempting but could be improved and it is still unclear whether it will be workable in practice, argue Jurre de Haan, Karin Janssen and Eduard Ponds
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Features
In your own back yard
Gail Moss looks at how a number of regional pension funds are investing in their own localities
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Features
Worriless provision
Samuel Lisse tells Nina Röhrbein about Vita Sammelstiftung’s semi-autonomous model
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Features
Shaking up high yield
Considering the trend to combine loans and high-yield bonds in the same products, Martin Steward finds the sub-investment grade landscape changing and new opportunities becoming apparent – especially in senior secured
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Features
An equity substitute
David Newman argues that equities have a similar credit profile to high-yield bonds but offer less protection, worse returns and higher volatility. Add in low correlation, and there is a strong case for replacing some equity exposure with high yield
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FeaturesVolatility regimes and risk drivers
Using factor model to break down two similar-looking periods of declining implied volatility in Europe and the US, Rachael Smith uncovers surprising differences in the actual sources of risk
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Special Report
ESG: Sunny side up
Investors in solar power are responding to changes in the markets and finding new ways of gaining exposure, says Nina Röhrbein
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Special Report
Outlook 2013: Euro Scenarios: Breaking up is hard to do
Quite apart from the investment risks associated with the euro-zone break-up scenario, it introduces complex legal and operational challenges. Charlotte Moore looks at the situation for both investment and non-financial firms
