Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 419
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Features
A deeper shade of green
This month’s Off The Record survey looked at pension funds’ integration of ESG.
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Features
Diary of an Investor: Job security
Off to Zurich for a day with my colleagues from around Europe. The English talk ‘brainstorming’ and think ‘outside the box’ but we on the continent want to avoid storms.
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Special Report
Custodians seen in a changed light
Sponsors are increasingly seeking the help of custodians as they feel the pressure, along with trustees, to manage risk and achieve service quality, writes Iain Morse
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Special Report
ESG as a legal obligation?
The UN’s Fiduciary II aims to take ESG integration to the next stage, while a shift in US policy is pushing demographic concerns up the agenda. Nina Röhrbein reports
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Interviews
Bigger in Japan
On 30 July Sumitomo Trust and Banking Company, the second biggest money manager in Japan, with assets under management at ¥26trn (€192.3bn), bought Nikko Asset Management, Japan’s seventh largest, with just over ¥9trn. It was second only to BlackRock-BGI in terms of this year’s biggest asset management M&A deals and will create Japan’s new number one, and yet media coverage in Europe was curiously muted.
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Special Report
Top gear?
Leveraged and inverse ETFs have been causing a regulatory fuss in the US. Martin Steward unpicks the issues, and asks if these products are of any relevance to pension fund investors
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Special Report
Liquidity fears dampen alternative ETF allure
While interest grows in new esoteric ETF products, institutional investors are unimpressed with the lack of liquidity in some areas, writes Maha Khan Phillips
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Special Report
An alternative to Spezialfonds
Liam Kennedy spoke with Universal Investment about an alternative to the Spezialfonds that could also assist Germany’s first steps towards attracting international pension pooling business
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Special Report
Case for bespoke asset management
Spezialfonds remain a preferred method of investment for institutional investors. But Till Entzian finds that the investment vehicle could be under threat from AIFM guidelines
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Asset Class Reports
Alpha from uncertainty
The market crash and subsequent super rally has investors in disagreement over the prospects for US equities. This suggests that active management will now make a difference, writes Joseph Mariathasan
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Features
Your money or your life
Life settlements are emerging as a viable form of exposure to the longevity asset class. Martin Steward asks if there is any place for them in a pension fund portfolio
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Features
Collateral quality is key
Many pension funds stopped their securities lending programmes last year, particularly after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. One year on, has this changed? This month’s Off The Record survey looked at how pension funds approach securities lending.
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Features
Diary of an Investor: Art of designer dealing
The team is back from holiday and we look at the equity markets rise. Yet how many months ago were people talking about bath-shaped and U-shaped recoveries?
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Special Report
A climate of change driving SAA
A new research project by Mercer will look at the opportunities and risks inherent in climate change by region and asset class. Nina Röhrbein reports
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Interviews
Multiplying the multi-boutique
As a giant among asset managers describing itself as “multi-boutique”, one might expect BNY Mellon Asset Management (BNYMAM) to be scouring this consolidating industry, chequebook in hand. The recent announcement that it will buy Insight Investment Management from Lloyds Banking Group for £235m (€273m) shows that it is indeed in the market
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Interviews
From silos to solutions
The announcement in mid-June that Barclays had accepted BlackRock’s offer for its asset management arm, Barclays Global Investors (BGI) – to be recommended to shareholders in August 2009 – set the media and industry analysts off on the challenging task of trying to find the pitfalls. All mergers present difficulties, particularly when they are on this scale, but it is difficult to imagine a better fit.
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Special Report
The price of everything but the value of nothing
Market volatility and shaky counterparties have focused attention on valuation methodologies and the data underpinning them, finds Brian Bollen
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Special Report
Transition in transition
The BlackRock-BGI merger is just the biggest whirlpool in a transition management industry in flux. Brian Bollen examines the intersections between evolving businesses and processes
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Special ReportIn the interim
The challenges of the past two years have led to a broadening of transition management services, and in particular growth in interim asset management, writes Lachlan French
