Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 333
-
Country Report
Spain: Crisis philosophy
Gail Moss finds that Spanish pension funds are confident about their ability to weather the storms of financial and economic turmoil
-
Country Report
Spain:Looking ahead
Cécile Sourbes interviews Angel Martínez-Aldama, director of the Spanish investment and pension fund association (INVERCO)
-
Asset Class Reports
Sovereign Bonds: Risk-free no longer
Joseph Mariathasan looks at how investors are adapting to the new world of sovereign bond risk
-
Asset Class Reports
Sovereign Bonds: The world’s shallowest cliff
Rock-bottom yields and a poor debt outlook – brought into focus by the ‘fiscal cliff’ – make US Treasuries a tough ‘safe haven’ to love, finds Joseph Mariathsan
-
Asset Class Reports
Sovereign Bonds: Denmark: an unlikely haven?
Denmark’s bonds, perceived as a safe haven from volatility in the euro-zone, have the lowest yields on the market. But Pavle Sabic argues that its fundamentals versus its Nordic neighbours suggest this is not simply about credit risk
-
Asset Class Reports
Sovereign Bonds: Would you credit it?
The split between Gilts and non-Gilts could be waiting to define tomorrow’s performance in UK fixed income strategies, finds Martin Steward
-
Country Report
Portugal: Serious challenges
The 2011 nationalisation of pension assets reduced Portugal’s supplementary pension savings by a third, writes Gail Moss. Development of the second pillar remains a priority
-
Features
Just who can you trust?
With anti-Europe sentiment running high, bailout fatigue widespread and austerity resentment reaching a fever pitch, the Dutch election of 12 September was widely seen as a bellwether ballot. For a while, the euro-sceptic Socialist Party seemed destined for a landslide win, with polls showing the socialists taking 39 seats in the 150-seat lower house – a 24-seat gain – leaving the conservative VVD of prime minister Mark Rutte in the dust.
-
Features
The Draghi put is no turning point for the euro
As I write on 13 September, it’s been a good week for europhiles. On 6 September,Mario Draghi unveiled the ECB’s plan for Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT). The German Constitutional Court ratified the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) on 12 September. And the Dutch electorate favoured two pro-euro parties.
-
Features
Soft and hard factors
Daily, at thousands of pension funds, judgements are formed on asset managers. Those managers may largely be hired and fired on the basis of hard numbers, but relationships are assessed (and sustained through hard times or otherwise curtailed) on the basis of a combination of ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ factors. Tough economic and market conditions increase the importance of those factors. But which ones do pension funds pay closest attention to?
-
Features
No short or decisive war
The essayist Robert Wilson Lynd wrote that “belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions”. The twentieth century conclusively laid to rest the notion that wars between nations would end with the symbolic exchange of border provinces or notional reparations. The economic consequences of the First World War were profound and long lasting, just as the Second World War shaped politics in ways we still see today.
-
Features
A long road to a new form of lending
In recent years, a number of asset managers have touted infrastructure’s profile as an asset class. They point out that infrastructure is largely uncorrelated with other asset classes, not to mention that it matches institutional investors’ long-term liabilities perfectly.
-
Features
Profits with purpose are still an uphill battle
Not all profits are born equal. This simple view was put forward by Towers Watson’s global head of investment content Roger Urwin as he unveiled the consultancy’s latest research project, Telos, conducted in conjunction with Oxford University.
-
Features
Dealing with the financial crisis
The vast majority of sovereign debt will end in effective default – at least that is according to Philippa ‘Pippa’ Malmgren, president of Principalis Asset Management.
-
Features
EFRP seeks priority in insolvency cases
Responding to the European Commission’s White Paper on Pensions from February late last month, the European Federation for Retirement Provision (EFRP) has called for the proposed review of the IORP Directive to grant pension funds greater security in the instance of sponsor insolvency.
-
Opinion Pieces
Long-term Matters: Kay - make your voice heard
The Kay review is the best thing we’ve had on short-termism for decades
-
Features
Pensions Accounting: A man on the moon? Easy
IFRIC Draft Interpretation D9, Employee Benefit Plans with a Promised Return on Contributions or Notional Contributions, refuses to die
-
Features
Diversification 2.0
With asset class correlations no longer following their historic norms, a new form of diversification focused on risk is emerging, according to Jim McCaughan and Amin Rajan
-
Opinion Pieces
Flavien Duval, Risk officer, Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management
Thousands of reports are produced and distributed to hundreds of people who don’t know what they’re supposed to do with them
-
Interviews
On the Record: Govvies in decline
What is your strategy in developed market sovereign bonds?
