Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 362
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Country Report
The Nordic Region: Investing in cleaner solutions
The outlook for investing in renewables, and cleantech in general, ought to be optimistic as the world is fighting to stop global warming and other climate issues. Pirkko Juntunen assesses the approaches of Nordic institutions
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Features
(Really) high yields
Dramatic repricing has opened up opportunities in high-yield, finds Lynn Strongin Dodds
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Asset Class Reports
Global Equities: Beta made better
Martin Steward asks why some investors are treating long/short equity as an ‘equity replacement’ – and what practical challenges face those who do so
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Special Report
Currency: A game of relativity
The Swiss National Bank’s most recent intervention brought blessed relief to Switzerland’s pension funds. Emma Cusworth assesses the trade-off between capitulation to haven hunters and rising inflation
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Special Report
Currency: Coming together in a crisis
Far from prising the euro-zone apart, Frank Velling argues that current traumas will bind members closer together
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Special Report
Currency: The real thing?
Using emerging market currencies to exploit the ‘Balassa-Samuelson’ hypothesis is a seductive idea, writes Martin Steward. But it might not work in a new world of ‘inflation tolerance’
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Features
Catastrophic year is a signal to buy
More pension funds are investing in insurance-linked securities. Daniel Grieger and Kristina Poliakova argue that recent natural catastrophes have made them even more attractive
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Special Report
Public meets private
Infrastructure is highly visible and long term, so investors need to stay in control of ESG concerns. Nina Röhrbein reports
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Features
A central Asian hub
Kazakhstan’s pension reforms are a success and the country has a sophisticated financial set-up, writes Iain Morse
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Interviews
Clear signals in the fog
When IPE first spoke with Ian Heslop about the post-crisis refinements that Old Mutual Asset Managers (OMAM) had made to its quantitative equity models, it was June of 2011. The sun was shining – literally, and (for quants) metaphorically, too.
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Features
Diary of an Investor: Plain talking
This week I read about a new initiative calling itself the 300 Club.
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Opinion Pieces
Building sector pensions
The European Association of Paritarian Institution’s (AEIP) is working on a continent and sector-wide pension system for the building industry. Francesco Briganti, director of AEIP’s Brussels office, says it aims to create a sector-wide social scheme that could eventually pool pension contributions. Overall benefits would be the spread of best practice in this vast industrial sector.
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Opinion Pieces
Saving, the Texas way
Galveston County, Texas, is no longer famous solely for the hurricane that devastated the area killing an estimated 8,000 people in September 1908, the deadliest natural disaster ever to strike the US. Now the county is cited as an alternative ‘Texas’ model for fixing Social Security.
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Features
Still as safe as houses?
Denmark’s mortgage bonds have never defaulted – in 215 years. Rachel Fixsen reports on why questions are suddenly being asked
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Features
Mariska van der Westen: Just who can you trust?
In the Netherlands, as elsewhere, the trustee model has come under intense scrutiny after the credit crisis. Dutch pension funds lost €120bn in 2008, €20bn of which can be chalked up to poor execution, the so-called ‘implementation shortfall’. Studies have found that trustee boards often lack the knowledge and expertise ...
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Features
Swiss funds welcome minimum exchange rate
The recent falls in equity and bond markets – added to the losses from foreign exchange risks – have caused Swiss pension funds to shiver in recent months. But the decision taken by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) on 6 September to set a minimum exchange rate of CHF1.20 to ...
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Features
ATP judges NOW is the time to enter the UK
ATP’s confirmation that it will be moving into the UK pension market was not, in itself, surprising. As anticipated, Morten Nilsson – now both head of ATP’s international operations and the chief executive-elect for its UK entity NOW Pensions – announced that the defined contribution (DC) scheme’s assets would be ...
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Country Report
Spain: Shift from conventional assets?
Some see diversification as a trump card as they weather domestic and global economic turbulence, writes Cecile Sourbes
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Country Report
Spain: The pensions piggy bank
Spain’s heavily indebted regional communities are in pursuit of the €65bn Social Security Reserve Fund. Some think that might not be such a good idea, writes Jim Robinson
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Country Report
Spain: Lessons from Chile
Enrique Munita and Inigo Sagardoy outline aspects of Chile’s funded pension system that might apply to Spain
