Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 569
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Features
Caught on camera
Delegates to the National Association of Pension Funds’ annual investment conference in Edinburgh in March may have noticed the TV screens dotted around the venue showing interviews with pension personalities. Leading UK pension industry figures such as Railpen’s Chris Hitchen and incoming NAPF chairman Robin Ellison were giving their views ...
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Features
Waiting to take over
Finland’s biggest pension funds are using modern and sophisticated systems for tasks such as handling new complex investment instruments, risk analysis and the straight through processing of trades. The integration of systems for efficient cost-effective operations appears to be a common goal. However, there are some funds that take a ...
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Features
Between a rock and a hard place
In ancient Greece, people who wanted to have their future forecast travelled to Apollo’s temple in Delphi, where the dangerous journey was generally rewarded with an answer, albeit ambiguous. Nobody questioned the answers, because they were supposed to come from Apollo himself. But pilgrims who tenaciously interpreted the god’s messages ...
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Features
Search for consensus
Norway’s parliament hopes to reach a consensus on the main principles of a reform of the pension system by 19 May. The discussions follow the release of a government white paper in December which was based on the findings of a commission chaired by former finance minister Sigbjørn Johnsen that ...
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Features
Tapping sources of alpha
The total investment return from an asset portfolio can be divided into two components: q Alpha – the return from taking active risk (ie, not mirroring the market or a proxy thereof, such as an index); and q Beta – the return from taking on exposure to market risk. It ...
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Features
Hats off time
While a number of commentators, myself included, have been rather unkind to the European Securities Forum (ESF) over the past few years, the organisation has brushed aside its critics and soldiered doggedly on with efforts to bring about the harmonisation and integration of European clearing and settlement processes. So does ...
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Special Report
Uphill in Netherlands
According to the the Dutch Association of Sustainable Investors (VBDO): “Dutch pension funds hardly give any information on how they include social and environmental aspects in their asset management.” The VBDO reported that the total volume of socially responsible investments (SRI) of Dutch pension funds had increased to about 3.3% ...
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Special Report
Animal welfare on agenda
New scientific research is beginning to confirm consumers’ instincts that farm animals have feelings, and that their welfare and humane treatment not only ensures higher quality food but is worth paying a premium for on moral grounds. While sales of free range eggs and other pro-animal welfare products are on ...
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Features
A true pioneer
Pioneer Investments is the global asset manager that was created in 2000 when Italian banking group UniCredito acquired the US investment firm Pioneer Group and merged it with its own asset management company, EuroPlus Research and Management. The acquisition gave UniCredito’s asset management arm a global reach, since Pioneer brought ...
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Features
Who's for commodities
Well, what is an investment in commodities? Why does it seem to be flavour of the month? Certainly, if it is an investment in say the Goldman Sachs Commodities Index it is not necessarily an investment in commodity Prices. When looking at a commodity index investment one must look at ...
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Features
French take notice at last
Private equity is relatively undeveloped as an investment by French pension funds. Until now, the pressures against private equity have worked both against the sector itself and the investor. Jane Welsh, senior investment consultant at Watson Wyatt says: “Opportunities to invest in private equity in France have been limited. The ...
