Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 492
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Features
Hungary tilts balance towards equities
Radical pension reform in Hungary continues apace despite a recent government admission about the state of the economy, writes Krystyna Krzyzak
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Features
Poland leads part of the way
Although it is the biggest and most developed CEE market, Poland has to catch up with practices elsewhere, writes Krystyna Krzyzak
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Custodians warm to what CEE has to offer
While varying from market to market, the trend is towards business growth and more open-ness, writes Heather McKenzie
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Features
Baltic States now making rapid strides
As the local economies take off, the knock on effect for pensions is highly positive, writes Krystyna Krzyzak
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Features
McCreevy endorses second pillar pensions
Ageing populations; shrinking work forces, are putting intense pressure on state pensions. This is driving change throughout the whole pensions system: The relationship between the state and its citizens; the nature of the pensions promises made by employers to their employees; the design of private retirement saving products. The pressure ...
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Features
Building stronger portfolios
Pension funds should build stronger portfolios to brace themselves for worst-case scenarios rather than just researching them a panel discussion ‘Where are the markets moving and how to react’, that was moderated by Karel Stroobants, chairman of Akkermans Stroobants & Partners. “We were too often disappointed by diversification when we ...
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Features
More needed for pan-European funds
More will need to be done for pan-European pension funds and cross-border activities to “grow and blossom”, European pension fund representatives told the sixth annual IPE Awards seminar. ABP’s pension director and European Federation for Retirement Provision president Jaap Maassen said: “I am optimistic and see progress, but there are ...
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Features
Optimising beta
Institutional investors may be missing out on the full benefits of a core-satellite approach to portfolio investment because they are using broad market indexes as benchmarks for the core and failing to optimise the passive part of their portfolio. This was the central message of Noël Amenc, professor, finance department, ...
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Features
Reform impetus runs out of steam
After making good progess establishing its third pillar, the Czech Republic now finds itself being overtaken by its neighbours, as George Coats reports
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Features
Predicting a predictable New Year
Forecasting the future of the financial world is fraught with difficulty and the chances of making spectacularly bad predictions are high. Famously, Irving Fisher, a professor of economics at Yale University, said in 1929 that “stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau”. If stoics are to believed and everything is predetermined, divination is at best guesswork and at worst alarmist. However, there may be some value in educated guesses.
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Features
Equities excel while bonds underperform
October was characterised by the improving performance of the stock markets, as indicated by the above average returns of the S&P 500, while volatility remained at the same level as the previous month, still close to its historical lows. Bond market performance declined again, reaching a low, but still positive, ...
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Features
Credit markets set for tough year ahead
Yield curve/duration Though the US housing market continues to show significant signs of weakness, prompting economists to downgrade domestic growth forecasts, the US consumer has yet again surprised us by significantly increasing their spending rather than their savings during October. And another shock came in the form of a significantly ...
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Features
An initiative that is starting to work
Peter Moon describes how the Enhanced Analytics Initiative is having the desired impact on investment research
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Features
Cooperlavoro waits for the breakthrough
This Italian fund’s strong performance is beginning to attract the interest of potential members. David White talks to Flavio Casetti
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Features
Pas de deux or danse macabre?
With a universe of 4,000 stocks and a raft of specialist managers how do investors exploit this extraordinary marketplace? Joseph Mariathasan reports
