Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 353
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Special Report
Sovereign debt in sights of ESG ratings
Nina Röhrbein finds out how the sovereign debt crisis is affecting countries’ ESG rating
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Interviews
On an ambitious journey
The name ‘AXA’ was chosen in the early 1980s, so the story goes, because it can be easily and uniformly pronounced in any language, and, as far as anyone knows, it also doesn’t mean anything rude anywhere around the world. But slick branding can’t make you good at everything, of course.
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Opinion Pieces
Politicians vs pensions
Two strongly divergent positions concerning the European Commission’s proposals for a financial transaction tax (FTT) have emerged in Brussels. Pension fund interests vehemently oppose the tax, while other parties, including some members of the European Parliament, take a diametrically opposite view.
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Opinion Pieces
Bankruptcy wave threat
A new wave of bankruptcies is set to put more pressure on the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), the US pension agency that insures pension benefits of private pension plans covering some 44m of America’s workers and retirees. For fiscal year 2011, the PBGC has already reported a record $26bn (€19.8bn) deficit – the largest in its 37-year history and $3bn more than the $23bn deficit reported the previous year.
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Features
DNB’s new interest-rate average will limit cuts
The Dutch Pension Federation, and the largest pension funds, ABP, PFZW and PMT, cautiously welcomed the pensions regulator’s recent decision to adopt a three-month interest-rate average to calculate the yield curve.
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Features
Sovereign debt crisis hits pension fund results
As pension funds across Europe release their preliminary results for 2011, the issue of the sovereign debt crisis is likely to dominate. Whether it be a shift in asset allocation – away from the few remaining periphery bonds generally held – or the fact liabilities escalated after a country’s debt ...
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Features
Revised IORP puts pensions industry on alert
Last month IPE noted that 2012 would be an important year in terms of regulation for pension funds as the industry awaits a White Paper for a revised IORP directive. Needless to say, the first few days of January have already confirmed those thoughts as the pensions industry submitted its ...
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Special Report
IPE at 15: Pension funds can shape the future of capitalism
Keith Ambachtsheer argues that pension funds are in a unique position to move capitalism in a direction that is more wealth-creating, more sustainable, less crisis-prone, and more legitimate than it is today
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Special Report
IPE at 15: A future for investment management
Saker Nusseibeh and Zuhair Mohammed outline a vision for institutional managers
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Special Report
IPE at 15: Winning the losers’ game
In an era where old certainties no longer hold, pension funds cannot afford to sit on the sidelines and let others do the heavy lifting, argues Amin Rajan
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Country Report
Ireland: A levy too far
Ireland’s economic woes have led the government to introduce a tax on pension fund assets. But the planned €450m pensions levy brings with it a significant impact on an already ailing industry, finds Jonathan Williams
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Country Report
Ireland: Beyond bailout
Ireland should not lose its perspective on long-term issues like pensions, argues Jerry Moriarty
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Country Report
Ireland: Funding for the future
The re-instatement of the funding standard, as well as an overhaul to increase capital buffers, come at a time when pension funds in Ireland have yet to recover from the recession. Jonathan Williams examines how the industry views the reinstatement and how funds can de-risk
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Country Report
Ireland: Reform under way
Frances Kehoe evaluates Ireland’s minimum funding standard and the introduction of sovereign annuities
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Country Report
Ireland: Borrowing to buy
Will vendor finance get pension funds investing in the Irish property market? Shayla Walmsley reports
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Country Report
Ireland: Put on a green jersey
Infrastructure is the asset class hotly tipped as austerity budgets bites, writes Jonathan Williams. But can Ireland’s industry be attracted to an illiquid asset at a time when funding concerns are paramount?
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Country Report
Ireland: Move to sustainment
Reform of the funded state pensions system foresees a planned single-career average pension fund for all employees, writes Pádraig Floyd
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Country Report
Ireland: Work extension
Employers will need to consider the impact of the change in state pension age on their HR policy and occupational pension schemes, writes Aisling Kennedy
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Special Report
Equity Sectors: The best form of defence
If you must hold equities, during volatile times it pays to be invested in the ‘safest’ businesses. But Martin Steward finds a changing world challenging old assumptions about which sectors contain these defensive stocks
