Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 586
-
Features
Smoothing over the differences
Since the beginning of this year all companies listed on stock exchanges within the EU have been required to prepare their consolidated financial statements in accordance with the new International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Companies listed on exchanges outside the EU have a further year before the requirement applies to ...
-
Features
Taking no prisoners
When the star of the cult Sixties TV show The Prisoner was not being pursued around the Welsh coastline by amorphous white blobs or grappling manfully with yet another convoluted, would-be existential conceit, Patrick McGoohan could be found securing his place in the glittering pantheon of pop culture with the ...
-
Features
SSGA launches pooled fund liability matching for schemes
State Street Global Advisors has launched a flexible pooled vehicle, which lets schemes match future liabilities within different inflation environments. SSGA said its new ‘Pooled Asset Liability Matching Solution’ (PALMS) “enables pension funds to match their projected future liabilities within different inflation environments using a flexible and cost-effective pooled vehicle”. ...
-
Features
Hedge funds in the mainstream
Hedge funds have now moved into the mainstream with 32% of European institutions now using them, Greenwich Associates says. “Among European institutions, the proportion using hedge funds jumped to 32% in 2004 from 23% a year earlier,” the Connecticut-based consulting firm sasy. It added that US institutional use climbed to ...
-
Features
Again a year of mixed fortunes
The January markets rally has affected 2005’s opening figures for many categories of hedge fund. Data revealing strong foreign demand for US assets had calmed fears that the US will struggle to fund its ballooning trade deficit. Instead, investors have focused on dollar-positive factors. Going forward, it is the threat ...
-
Features
Back with a bang
After years of near-neglect, asset allocation is now centre stage. The pensions world has (re-) discovered its importance for investment performance, liability matching and risk management. How quickly things can change. Only a few years back the view was widespread that there was not much value added to be gained ...
-
Features
Funds take their own approach
Every pension fund is, or should be, aware of its liabilities – the benefits it owes each one of its members, now or in the future. But although taking steps to tailor the investment mix to cover these liabilities may seem to make sense, in practice pension funds take different ...
-
Features
Consultants' perspectives
For most consultants in Europe today, there is little use beginning a conversation on asset allocation by talking about pure alpha. Liabilities are the ship and alpha merely the wind which takes it to the longed-for destination. Consultants are spending more time explaining the nature of that ship to the ...
-
Features
Tying the pieces together
Is asset allocation objective? Why are rational, intelligent individuals able to produce two radically different asset allocations both seeking to fulfil a 20-year objective? The answer lies in the conflicts of interest that are embedded in the institutional fund management industry. The fundamental point is that what the risk stakeholders ...
-
Features
The jury is still out
So in a continuation of the festive seasonal spirit, here are some quiz questions for pension fund trustees:LDI stands for ‘Liability driven investing’, which was the hot topic of 2004. What acronym best describes the preceding regime? Was it: PCMI (Pension Cost Minimization Investing)? IMDI (Investment Manager Driven Investing)? or ...
-
Features
Reconciling paths to matching
There is now general agreement in the UK defined benefit (DB) pensions industry that we are moving towards much higher bond allocations and far lower equity allocations – the debate is largely on how long the transition will take. Furthermore, there is agreement on the major risks facing pension funds, ...
-
Features
Equity duration - how viable?
[This article is more than 15 years old. For a more recent IPE article about equity duration please click here or see our equity asset class reports] Whether the concept ‘equity duration’ is useful has been a topic of debate for several decades and there is still no consensus on ...
-
Features
Look hard before changing
Put in an executive nutshell, the revised IAS19 should have little, if any, noticeable effect upon the asset allocation in German pension plans. However, asset allocation is changing and will continue to change in response to a number of inter-related developments. Asset allocation is driven initially by market movements, namely ...
-
Features
TAA is put on trial
Tactical asset allocation (TAA) is the talk of the town again. Once known as market timing (before that term became associated with more unsavoury practices), the basic tenet is to buy the market when it’s low, and sell high. No one doubts that this would add significant value if done ...
-
Features
Continental investors hold their course
European institutional investors are taking strong measures to address solvency concerns and improve investment performance, as evidenced by their widespread adoption of new investment approaches and unprecedented levels of turnover of external asset managers. Despite these newly aggressive tactics, however, Greenwich research suggests that many institutions are hesitating in adopting ...
