Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 406
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Features
Diary of an Investor: Crikey!
“Oh dear, whoops and crikey”, are expressions used by the British to describe feelings when facing unusual situations. Well, I use them because we are being visited by Central Bank supervisor. These visits must evoke similar reactions from my peers in other European countries. Yet in Holland, no matter how the coverage ratio looks, we know we are all about to be told off.
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Special Report
Lukewarm on weather derivatives
Nina Röhrbein reports on whether investors are turning to weather derivatives as a means of assuaging climate change concerns
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Special Report
De-risking drives competition
Iain Morse reports from a cost-conscious UK custody market as trustees aim to comprehend, and lower, their risk exposure
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Interviews
Modelling talent – and tails
We all know that finding alpha is tough. But managing a portfolio of alpha sources is also trickier than it seems. Many assume that a hedge fund manager’s idiosyncratic risk has a stable relationship with his beta exposures (which is unsatisfactory); and that idiosyncratic risk is normally-distributed and, by definition, non-correlated with other idiosyncratic risks (which is potentially disastrous). Very few have made significant progress beyond these assumptions, but it should come as no surprise that one of those few is fund of hedge funds Caliburn Capital Partners – because building portfolios of alpha is its raison d’être.
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FeaturesWhen lightning strikes twice
Pension funds face a difficult challenge in coping with market volatility and modelling risk. Lisa Goldberg describes some of the available options in statistical analysis
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Asset Class ReportsValue traps
Michele Gambera uses UK equities to reveal how excluding or including companies with negative earnings skews the P/E ratio of the market
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Asset Class ReportsEuropean equities: Never out of style
Managing European equities has to be about avoiding style biases, finds Joseph Mariathasan. He speaks to five managers who have squeezed alpha from very different markets with very distinct strategies
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Features
Bucking the trends
Martin Steward examines the big claims that are made for managed futures’ non-correlation with traditional assets, other hedge funds and even each other
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Special Report
Europe's Pension Consultants: One-stop shop
Trustees now have various opportunities to delegate some investment decision-making. Gill Wadsworth asks whether fiduciary management is a better bet than implemented consulting
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Special ReportEurope's Pension Consultants: Rapid change
Twin trends of consolidation and thriving specialist boutiques coincide with an urgent debate about the role of advisers and ownership of responsibility within the pensions governance complex. Martin Steward looks at optimising the cooks-to-broth ratio
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Country ReportNetherlands: Change on the horizon
It has been the poster boy of the international pensions world, but the Netherlands is now reflecting on recent failings following the publication of the Frijns and Goudswaard reports, writes Liam Kennedy, as the prospect of a real cover ratio looms on the horizon
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Country ReportBelgium: A time for courage and action
Karel Stroobants argues that doing nothing about the Belgian pension system is not an option if the country is to avoid collective impoverishment and generational conflict
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Country Report
Belgium: Prime location status proves an elusive goal
Astrid Pieron argues that a combination of strong competition and tax and legal discrimination is hampering Belgium as a destination for cross-border pension funds
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Country Report
Belgium: Keeping it safe and simple
Belgium’s pension funds are erring on the side of caution as they begin the process of re-examining their asset allocation strategies following the downturn. Nina Roehrbein reports
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Features
Benchmark and save
Gail Moss finds out how pension funds can use benchmarking to reduce their operating costs
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Features
Berkshire: Straight talker
The UK’s Royal County of Berkshire pension fund has slashed long-only equities and hedged its longevity risk. The manager of the fund, Nick Greenwood, told Brendan Maton about his strategy
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Opinion PiecesAnton van Nunen, Van Nunen & Partners
The first fiduciary contracts were drafted some 7-8 years ago, and now more than three quarters of externally managed Dutch pension money is under fiduciary management. It is time to evaluate the rapid development and, in particular, to correct aberrations that have occurred since.
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Features
Presentation revisited
The most controverisal aspect of the IASB’s shake-up of financial statement presentation is the move to a so-called single statement of comprehensive income.
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Opinion PiecesAutomatic for the people
US money managers could receive an estimated $100bn (€73bn) over five years to invest on behalf of the 78m workers who do not have a pension – 50% of US employees – if a proposal by the White House is approved by the Congress.
