Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 625
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Features
Operating on a number of fronts
Peter Borgdorff, director of the Vereniging van Bedrijfstakpensioenfondsen or VB, for short, the association for Dutch industry-wide pension funds in The Hague, says there is reason for his members to be pleased with the outcome of the recent government proposals on pension reform. Harking back to the infamous September 2002 ...
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Features
An awkward bedfellow
Many defined benefit (DB) pension schemes are seeking ways to regain a fully funded status by increasing contributions and maximising investment returns. However, they are also concerned about controlling risk and ensuring that contribution levels are kept under control. Most schemes cannot afford to move to a ‘low risk’ 100% ...
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Features
Seeing through transparency
A survey conducted last year by Deutsche Bank found that over one-third of hedge-fund investors require managers to provide detailed information about the holdings and risk in their portfolios. Yet, according to an earlier report by Capital Markets Risk Advisors (CMRA) in association with the Alternative Investment Managers Association, while ...
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Features
Jump in - the water's lovely
European institutional investors are catching up their US counterparts in using hedge funds as a risk diversifier. Although some pension funds, such as the ATP or Tapiola schemes in Denmark and Finland, respectively, are not investing in hedge funds, others are waiting for board approval, such as the Netherland’s Blue ...
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Features
Attracting novice investors
Since the beginning of 2004 two new investment companies operating as funds of hedge funds (FOHFs) have become listed on the London Stock Exchange, swelling the progress of a new theme in institutional hedge fund investment in the UK. Though the international universe of hedge funds, whether single strategy or ...
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Features
Building an index of indices
The chief obstacle to the institutionalisation of hedge funds is the absence of proper performance evaluation. This is conclusion of a recent report from Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, part of the Edhec Business School, based in Lille and Nice. The problem, the report says, is the lack ...
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Features
All hands on deck for this system
Despite being in the job for not more than a year, Dirk Witteveen, chairman of the Dutch Pensions and Insurance Supervisory Authority (PVK), made a name for himself – for better or for worse – when he wrote his infamous solvency letter to Dutch pension funds in September 2002. The ...
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Features
Credits: an affordable solution to matching problems
Recent market volatility has shown that market developments can wipe out pension fund reserves rather quickly. This has forced plan sponsors to increase pension fund contributions sharply. However, volatility in these contributions is considered undesirable as it has a direct impact on plan sponsors’ results. In addition, new regulation will ...
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Features
Hedge funds indexation: does it really make sense?
Barely a day passes without the announcement of another significant mandate from a large institutional investor looking to diversify its portfolio of investments by making an allocation to hedge funds. For example, in April it was announced that Railpen in the UK had plans to invest £600m into hedge funds1, ...
