Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 50
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Asset Class ReportsEquities – Thematic funds tap into future trends
Themes have long captured the imagination of retail investors. Now institutions are showing interest, despite the lack of clear definitions
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Special ReportUK pension risk transfer market set for bumper 2023
Improved pricing and funding levels turned 2022 into a busy year for insurers, with more demand expected in 2023. But can they cope with the higher demand and will pricing remain competitive?
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Country ReportIreland: Viewpoint – Trustees, understand the employer covenant
Pensions may lose out if boards do not have a full grasp of the risks facing schemes
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Country ReportIreland: Final countdown to implementation for auto enrolment
Fifteen years after auto-enrolment was first mooted for Ireland, the automatic savings programme is nearly ready to be rolled out
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Country ReportIreland: IAPF view – The pension landscape is evolving fast
Reform of the Irish pensions system is in motion but much more needs to be done
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Country ReportIreland: Interview – Pensions Authority keeps an eye on LDI practices
Pensions Authority CEO Brendan Kennedy is not overly concerned about DB schemes’ LDI position, but feels the regulator needs more information. He speaks to Gail Moss about this and other issues facing the Irish industry
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Country ReportIreland: Taking stock of LDI
While there are no immediate concerns, liability-matching assets fell significantly last year following rising euro yields
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Country ReportIreland: In rude health
Heading into 2023, the largest schemes are in funding surplus for the first time
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Opinion PiecesGermany's first-pillar pension reform plans: tough to meet expectations
How would you design your asset allocation if you were building a portfolio from scratch? This is the question facing the governors of Germany’s new state pension buffer fund, the grandly titled ‘Generationenkapital’ (Generational Capital) fund. The expectations are high.
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Opinion PiecesFull steam ahead for UK de-risking market
This year is set to be the largest yet for the UK defined benefit (DB) pensions de-risking market, with at least £40bn (€45.8bn) in bulk annuity transactions and £20bn in longevity hedges expected to be completed, according to WTW’s latest de-risking report.
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FeaturesWill the US pushback against ESG slow global progress?
Hostility towards asset managers embracing climate action and stewardship is raising questions on both sides of the Atlantic
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Opinion PiecesTime for honesty in the face of the ESG backlash
Sustainable finance is a broad church: it covers small investors whose clients want their capital to benefit society through to big managers who only consider environmental and social issues if they stand to make money.
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Opinion PiecesDenmark: Seeking answers on unlisted valuations
The perennial problem of how unlisted assets should be valued has reared its head in Denmark. Data collated by one financial adviser on pension funds’ 2022 private equity investments has led to worries about an apparent black-box approach to valuation processes.
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Special ReportPension funds on the record: The benefits of a themed portfolio
European pension funds are increasingly organising portfolios according to ‘themes’. Here are two examples of thematic investing in equities
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InterviewsAP4: A pension fund investing 40 years into the future
Niklas Ekvall (pictured), CEO of Fjärde AP-fonden (AP4), one of the Swedish buffer funds, talks to Carlo Svaluto Moreolo about building a robust and sustainable long-term portfolio
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Opinion PiecesAustralia: Super funds face the future of fossil fuels
After a year when fossil fuel stocks outperformed all other shares, Australian super funds face a conundrum – to buy, hold or sell?
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Opinion PiecesUS: Sponsors back pension buyouts
In 2022, pension risk transfer (PRT) deals in the US reached a record of over $50bn (€46.5bn), according to estimates. And many industry observers expect demand from plan sponsors for PRT solutions to remain strong in 2023.
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FeaturesPensionsEurope: Not all doom and gloom for 2022
After the bumper investment returns of 2021 – the best that many pension funds had ever experienced – last year’s results were disappointing.
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FeaturesFresh views on emerging markets
Despite a large, heterogeneous universe of opportunities across countries that have little or no commonality, risk contagion in the emerging market universe is still an issue, highlighted most dramatically by the 1997 Asian crisis and the risk on/risk off capital movements after the 2007-08 global financial crisis.
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FeaturesAccounting: Happy birthday to the ISSB
The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) finds itself at a crossroads as it marks its first anniversary. On the one hand, it is redeliberating its first two sustainability standards and could finalise and issue them during the first half of this year.
