Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 451
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FeaturesCredit crunch chickens come home to roost
Georg Inderst gives an overview of the effects of the sub-prime generated credit crunch on pension funds
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Features
Markets still off the norm
Yield curve/duration Central banks across the world have been putting in place new measures in order to melt the liquidity freeze. Market conditions have generally improved over the month, although have hardly returned to anything like their historical norms. For example, spreads between LIBOR and other rates remain very wide ...
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Features
Negative returns for all strategies
All hedge fund strategies posted negative returns in March. Convertible arbitrage registered the most severe loss with -3.26%. Despite the positive impact of bond markets, performance of the convertible arbitrage strategy appears to have been strongly penalised by the negative value of credit spread. Equity market neutral and CTA global ...
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FeaturesPanic in abeyance
DON’T PANIC, as readers of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy can tell you, should always be capitalised in large friendly letters. If you happen to be holding out a thumb to passing spacecraft whilst hoping to survive on a mere thirty Altairian dollars a day it is doubtless valuable ...
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Features
Expectations
Summary of managers’ expectations Equities Global equity markets continue to be roiled with uncertainty as a result of falling home prices, deteriorating labour markets, increased borrowing costs and high oil and input prices. Despite reports of declining consumer sentiment in the US, surveyed investors are more bullish this month ...
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FeaturesDark pools
Pirkko Juntunen throws light on the alternative trading systems that are catching on in Europe
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FeaturesStirring but not shaken
Changes to Finland’s pensions landscape indicate that reforms are having an impact, but not always as intended, finds George Coats
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FeaturesPresenting the third supervisor
The Dutch pensions industry is already monitored by the Dutch Central Bank, DNB, and the Authority Financial Markets, AFM. Now a third supervisor, the Dutch Competition Agency, NMa, is joining the fray and turning its attention to the pensions market. Mariska van der Westen spoke with the head of NMa’s financial sector monitoring division, Fieke van der Lecq
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FeaturesSaying it right
The complexity of pension investments makes communication very important. Does the Dutch uniform pension statement offer a solution? Rachel Fixsen reports
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FeaturesSteady performance through asymmetric returns
Victoria-Volksbanken Pensionskassen has tried to move away from the traditional Austrian pension plan model. David White speaks to Claudio Gligo, who is responsible for the plan’s investments, about meeting members’ risk aversion
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FeaturesDealing with volatility
Finding global equity managers likely to thrive in the current market environment will be difficult. Joseph Mariathasan asks which approaches are likely to do most well
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Features
Balancing risks and rewards
Value-based asset liability modelling and generational accounting can reveal the hidden value transfers between generations. David White reports
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FeaturesWhen the euro overtakes the dollar
The global credit crisis, which has led to a steep fall in the value of the US dollar and a rise in the value of the euro, poses the intriguing question – will the euro replace the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency?
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Special ReportWhen does it stop being responsible?
IPE asked three pension funds in Italy, the Netherlands and Norway the same question: ‘What is your approach to exclusions and the screening of stocks?’ Here are their answers:
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Features
A never-ending story
Attempts to ensure the sustainability of Germany’s pension system have been underway for years, say Klaus Stiefermann and Cornelia Schmid
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FeaturesInstitutions focus on risk
German investment managers are seeing increasing demand for risk management services, including high reporting standards. And this has heightened in the wake of the credit crunch. Barbara Ottawa asked asset managers for their views on current thinking and on the outlook and trends in institutional business
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FeaturesA pensions stalemate
Reform of Austria’s severance pay system in 2000 has led to a curious impasse between new dedicated savings funds and exiting pension funds. Now some are calling time on Pensionkassen, Barbara Ottawa finds
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Features
Reviewing asset allocation
What are German pension funds really up to? Dirk Söhnholz outlines the findings of a recent survey
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Features
Funding: getting it off your chest
The Pensionsfonds vehicle was created in to fund pension liabilities off balance sheet. Liam Kennedy assesses views on funding trends in German corporates
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FeaturesTaking the CTA to the Mittelstand
Barbara Ottawa examines the reasons behind the growth of group CTA products
