Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 443
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Features
The crunch continues
Yield curve/duration The credit crunch is now manifesting itself in the form of the massive writedowns by scores of financial institutions. The focus has moved from sub-prime to collateralised debt obligations of asset backed securities (CDOs of ABSs) to asset backed commercial paper (ABCP) as the disease spreads to the ...
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Special Report
Where pension funds can and can’t excel: Watson Wyatt’s view
While certain aspects of governance may need to be enhanced when using external managers, this should not necessarily deter pension funds from continuing to use them, rather than build an in-house team, according to Watson Wyatt. The pension consultants say that research conducted by Roger Urwin, global head of investment ...
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Features
Happy Honecker: censorship lives
In the former East Germany, the Honecker regime cunningly blanked-out maps west of Berlin in a bid to foil escapes. This is an approach that the IASB’s pension team appears to have taken literally. An example is Paragraph 50 of the observer notes for the board’s December 2007 discussions: “A ...
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FeaturesFour-year marathon to bring back the prize
The Arkitekternas Pensionkassa has until 2012 to convince its newer members that it is a better home for their ITP savings than the big players such as Alecta or Skandia. Managing director Maritha Lindberg tells Brendan Maton how the fund plans to do it
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Features
Polish reforms take shape
Polish pension reforms began in 1999, but the presentation of new legislation relating to bridging pensions, annuities and the programmed withdrawal of funds suggests the reforms of the second pensions pillar could be completed just as the first pensions are paid next year. Ten years ago, Poland introduced a new ...
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Features
The Fannie and Freddie effect
The apparent end of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac uncertainty, following the de-facto government takeover in September, sent shares in the two quasi-governmental mortgage lenders tumbling, further decimating the considerable holdings of US pension funds in the mortgage giants. This new ‘conservatorship’ raises immediate questions about the fate of ...
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Special Report
Home or away?
Who should manage your money? Many of our readers have successfully managed their own portfolios for years and remain happy to continue doing so. We sought your opinions on the value of doing it yourself as opposed to outsourcing.
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Features
INVESTMENT DIRECTOR’s DIARY
Revolution at Wasserdicht Pension Funds. The whole investment team is debating the targeting of third-party assets. From Brussels to Vienna and Frankfurt to London, our sharpest minds are congregating in Amsterdam to discuss how we would do this. Jean from Bruxelles began proceedings: “We should ask smaller pension funds to ...
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Features
A gradual transformation
The arena for consultants looks much the same from one year to the next but it is changing, George Coats finds
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Special Report
The dog that didn’t bark
The failure of a court case arising from the collapse of a pension fund to result in any convictions aroused little interest among the general public, says George Coats
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Features
Setting the rate
Fixing the following year’s minimum return for pension funds is an annual task for the Swiss government. Nathalie Munaretto and Ljudmila Bertschi look at current factors
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Special ReportMind the gap
Public sector pension institutions play an important, if often controversial, role in the Swiss pensions arena, argues Graziano Lusenti
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FeaturesKAGs face up to challenge of international competition
Volumes invested in domestically registered Spezialfonds rose again in 2007, even though the consolidation that has resulted in a decline in the number of funds continued – albeit at a slower pace. Managers’ involvement in the Spezialfonds business is changing too, as administration and portfolio management responsibilities have become increasingly separate. KAGs facing international competition have the challenge of developing further innovative fund products and providing more flexible management. Till Entzian presents his annual survey of the market
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Features
Unsettling times
Yield curve/duration At the very heart of the financial system, money markets remain almost paralysed and it is here that the recovery must start. Neither the global financial market nor the real economy can function without them. Without access to short-term funding, the banks are forced to sell assets as ...
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FeaturesThe improving image of EMD
The increasing importance of emerging market debt as an asset class reflects the seismic shift we are witnessing as power and relative wealth moves from the developed markets to the developing, argues Joseph Mariathasan
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FeaturesThe shape of things to come
Mn Services is increasing the allocations of emerging market assets in its portfolios. Joseph Mariathasan finds out why
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Features
INVESTMENT DIRECTOR’s DIARY
We have been very busy. Managers have been letting us know of our exposures to financials and we have even been discussing the merits of an ex-financials benchmark. The question is where is the bottom to all this mess? Word of advice: do not rely totally on your black-box quant ...
