Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 358
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Country Report
Switzerland: More fairness needed
Pension funds are feeling the pinch in the sovereign debt crisis, writes Gérard Fischer, CEO of Swisscanto. In the long term, they can only deliver their promised benefits through a better distribution of assets, income and recapitalisation contributions between generations
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Asset Class Reports
Hedge Funds: A true alternative
Bainbridge Partners exploits the fact that some hedge fund strategies simply diversify better than others, finds Martin Steward
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Asset Class Reports
Hedge Funds: Once bitten... twice shy
The year 2011 has been a good one for emerging hedge fund talent. However, prospective candidates are being put through their paces by cautious investors, finds Lynn Strongin Dodds
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Asset Class Reports
Hedge Funds: The governance minefield
Milan’s ECPI assesses the sustainability of hedge funds’ portfolios – and their business models. Martin Steward spoke to CEO Paolo Sardi
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Asset Class Reports
Hedge Funds: Still work to do on governance
Hedge funds still suffer an image problem, writes John Donohoe. Carne Global’s latest investor survey reveals the institutional investors’ governance concerns
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Asset Class Reports
Hedge Funds: A decade on the learning curve
Martin Steward spoke to Finnish pension insurance company Varma about its experiences at the cutting edge of absolute returns
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Features
Swiss challenge
Global custodians are finding Swiss accounting regulations a barrier to its custody and servicing market, writes Iain Morse
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Features
Hedging your bets
Just over 70% of respondents to this month’s Off The Record quick poll stated that their pension fund invested in hedge funds.
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Features
Focus on DC
It is difficult to retain sight of the founding principles of the EU’s Pensions Directive (IORP) when confronted with the 500-page response of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) to the EC’s call for advice last April on its review of the legislation.
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Features
The good, the bad and the average
New analysis from Merrill Lynch indicates that hedge funds have never been so closely correlated with equities as they have in the past three years. It initiated another of those periodic waves of comment that pension funds are wasting their time and money going to hedge funds for “uncorrelated returns”.
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Features
I polder, you polder
In October, the Dutch pension system was named the best in the world for the third year running by the Melbourne Mercer Global Pension index. But despite its top ranking, the Dutch system scored less on adequacy and sustainability than the previous year and its overall index value slipped from 78.3 to 77.9. In the Netherlands, as elsewhere, pension provision is under threat from a rising tide of troubles, including an ageing (and long-lived) population, low interest rates and fretful financial markets.
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Features
A precarious balance
We have heard much in recent years about institutions that were, or are, ‘too big to fail’, particularly in 2008 when Bear Stearns collapsed, followed later that year by the entry of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into government conservatorship, the bailout of AIG and the collapse without rescue of Lehman Brothers.
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Features
Heightened scrutiny on derivatives collateral
The use of credit support annexe (CSA) agreements, defining the collateral that can be posted in bilateral over-the-counter derivative (OTC) trades, has increased significantly over recent years as pension funds have made increasing use of derivatives.
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Features
NAPF: Preparing for auto-enrolment
The EU and DC were two of the most hotly debated topics at October’s National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) conference in Manchester.
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Features
New chairman rings in the changes at AbA
Attendees of this year’s autumn conference of the German pension fund association Arbeitsgemeinschaft betriebliche Altersversorgung (AbA) in Cologne found an organisation preparing for a new pension era in Germany and across Europe.
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Features
Scepticism over cross-border schemes
The desire to implement defined contribution (DC) pension plans is growing among companies around the world, while the necessity, one day, of a pan-European DC scheme is at the front of industry minds. But even though some pension providers have already paved the way, the journey is a long one.
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Opinion Pieces
Long-Term Matters: Executive Pay
Why should investment professionals care about the ‘#Occupy’ protests? The majority of the public – ie, our customers – share some of the protesters’ views, even if they are not on the streets. One potent driver is the huge growth in income inequality over recent decades. With this comes disgust with politicians for being the primary ‘enablers’.
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Features
Leave it to technocrats?
Those who believe that governance by technocrat will solve Italy’s ills should think again. The IASB is currently working on a three-bucket approach for financial asset impairment. The idea is that newly originated or purchased loans – the model must work for both – are allocated by an entity to one of three buckets. And in very general terms, assets will move from one bucket to another in order to reflect deteriorating credit quality and credit losses. This is the board’s third stab at developing an impairment model since 2009.
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Features
Persistency via operational excellence
In the final article in the current series, Jervis Smith and Amin Rajan highlight the role of third-party administrators as innovation partners
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Opinion Pieces
Fiona Stewart, OECD
Fiona Stewart, principal administrator at the OECD, considers why many institutional investors have failed to live up to their long-term investment potential.
