Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 334
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Features
Diary of an Investor: Rear-view mirror
A couple of weeks ago I made my way to Amsterdam’s Beurs van Beurlage for a festive evening, the annual dinner of the Dutch Committee of Institutional Investors. It’s always a good occasion to catch up with old friends, even if you’d rather give some of the guests a wide berth.
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Special Report
Risk Managed Equities: The funding dilemma
With its desire to de-risk and its growing deficit, the Strathclyde Pension Fund is one of many ideal candidates for the risk-managed equities experiment. Martin Steward reports on its plans
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Special Report
Risk Managed Equities: Smart beta – a cautionary tale
By moving away from the market portfolio smart beta solutions add risk, argues Jeff Molitor. Investors need to be aware of this, and of the fact that taking active risk needs to be well timed
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IP Asia
India - Moving ahead despite the government
India’s latest economic reforms may offer some hope, writes Joseph Mariathasan
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Opinion Pieces
Letter from Brussels: Lack of trust blamed for low savings
While euro-zone household savings, including retirement provision, grew steadily from around €600bn gross savings at the end of the century to a peak of €910bn in 2009, they fell to €834bn by 2011.
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Opinion Pieces
Letter from the US: Colleges count losses
US college and university endowments had the worst returns of any insitutional investor in the year ended 30 June 2012
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IP Asia
Income approaches to equity investing
Joseph Mariathasan looks at investing for consistent returns
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Asset Class Reports
Global Equities: One world
The convergence of emerging and developed markets argues for integrated global portfolios. But Joseph Mariathasan finds that investors taking this approach could miss out on the best opportunities
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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
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Country Report
Spain:Looking ahead
Cécile Sourbes interviews Angel Martínez-Aldama, director of the Spanish investment and pension fund association (INVERCO)
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
