Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 637
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Features
'Pension funds better investors than asset managers'
European pension funds should manage the core of their business internally, and outsource only the specialist areas of asset management to external managers. This is because pension funds understand their liabilities better than anyone else. Broadly, this was the conclusion of six managers in the pension industry when they debated ...
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Features
EU pensions tax issues 'an afternoon's work'
The European occupational pensions tax harmonisation question is just a technical one that could easily be solved, an eminent taxation expert Professor Gerry Dietvorst of Tilburg University told the Awards audience in a keynote address. The problem “can be solved in one afternoon by the ministers of finance”. He said ...
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Features
Waving the flag for funding
The idea for a pension fund for members of the European Parliament began on a paper tablecloth in an Athens restaurant. It was sketched by Richard Balfe and a fellow member of the European Parliament (MEP) Anthony Simpson. They felt that MEPs fared worse than their national parliamentary counterparts in ...
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Features
Burning at both ends
In essence there are two ways on investing in convertibles. One can buy a convertible outright and accept all the risks inherent within the instrument. The main risks are equity risk, for the bond may well convert into equity, credit risk, because as a debt instrument it is subject to ...
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Features
Moulding yourself to the system
As pension funds and investment firms come to rely more heavily on technology, they need to know how to get the best out of what can be a considerable investment. Part of the trick is making the right choice of system, but much can also be gained or lost in ...
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Features
EIORP step to pan-European funds
When the European Federation for Retirement Provision (EFRP) unveiled the original version of its linguistically challenging EIORP concept back in July 2000, the pan-European pensions directive was still something of a blocked pipe dream. The polemic strategy of Europe’s pension lobby group at the time reflects very much where we ...
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Special Report
Ethix in AP7 Fund deal
Swedish ethical consulting firm, Ethix, says it is about to sign a deal that will see AP7 and a number of other institutions take an approximately 50% stake in the firm. Ethix was formed this year after a number of staff left SRI consulting firm CaringCompany –Etikanalytikerna, which re-cently changed ...
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Special Report
Name change for CaringCompany
Nordic socially responsible investment consulting firm CaringCompany has changed its named to GES Investment Services. The company says the aim of the rebranding exercise was to strengthen the profile of the company for an international expansion effort. Managing director Magnus Furugård says the name change would give the firm one ...
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Special Report
New alpha sources
Three years of bear markets and growing pension deficits have significantly accelerated and intensified the institutional search for out-performance. It is somewhat perplexing, therefore, that one potentially robust – and growing – source of alpha has scarcely been examined – at least not in a disciplined, sophisticated, and widespread way. ...
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Special Report
The seven habits of highly effective pension funds
It seems like Steven Covey’s personal improvement bible “The 7 habits of highly effective people” has been on best-selling book lists forever. What if we changed the ‘people’ word in the book title to ‘pension funds’? What would become of Covey’s effective people habits like ‘be proactive’, ‘begin with the ...
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Features
Scherkamp puts the clock back
Europe’s large corporates face some searching questions on their approach to pension provision, in the view of Peter Scherkamp, who recently left Siemens in Munich head of finance strategies and Vorstand of the Siemens Pension Trust to set up his own pensions consulting firm. “Chief financial officers realise that they ...
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Features
Busy times in Belgium
Pensions consultants in Belgium are doing a swift trade. The Belgian parliament approved new legislation on supplementary pension last May. The new law, which takes force in January, is far-reaching, and pension schemes have called in consultants to deal with its implications. “There’s a lot to do, and it affects ...
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Special Report
Accounting rules to hit corporates
It was supposed to be a step forward more transparency in pension fund accounting. Still it is raising more quarrels about what transparency really means and what is the right balance between disclosure to investors and a company’s need to keep costs under control. The new rules issued by the ...
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Features
Swaps 'ideal for pension funds'
Derivatives can enable pension funds to re-shape their asset returns. They can guarantee an upside and protect the downside. Crucially they provide a closer match than bonds to a mature pension fund’s liabilities. The use of derivatives by pension was one of the key themes at Watson Wyatt’s 11th annual ...
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Features
State Street unveils 'virtual pooling'
Global custody group State Street is introducing a ‘virtual’ product for multinational pension fund asset pooling. “This enables pension fund assets to be legally, beneficially and directly owned by the funds participating in the pool,” William Slattery, head of State Street’s business in Ireland, said at the IPE Multi-pensions conference ...
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Features
HSBC 'on a roll'
After years of drift, few would dispute that Global Investor Services, HSBC’s global custody division, is now on something of a roll. The custodian’s ranking as the number one player in R&M Consultants recent UK trustee and depository survey will certainly have come as a welcome fillip to Mike Martin ...
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Features
Bringing the bounce back
Back in the glory days of UK balanced management, Gartmore ranked in the top five managers who contended for practically every piece of pension fund business, while many other asset managers were left out in the cold or having to feed off the crumbs that fell from the golden circle’s ...
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Features
EMTX 'poised for growth boost'
This month Lyxor AM, part of Societe Generale, is due to launch an exchange traded fund that indexed to the new EuroMTS index covering Euro-zone government debt, subject to regulatory approval. This should provide a boost for the index among investors, says Scott Stark, chief executive officer of EuroMTS Index ...
