Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 7
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Country ReportFinland aims for pension stability
A pensions working group will investigate ways to improve the system to help strengthen the economy
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Special ReportShareholder class actions in Europe: the benefits and risks of participating
Litigation outside the United States, and in particular in Europe, has been on the rise since the US Supreme Court’s landmark 2010 decision in Morrison v. National Australia Bank. In Morrison, the US Supreme Court ruled that “foreign” (non-US) investors cannot bring federal securities lawsuits in US courts to recover investment losses relating to foreign-issued securities traded on foreign exchanges (known as “F-cubed” claims). As former Justice Antonin Scalia explained, the concern was to prevent the US from becoming “the Shangri-La” of class-action litigation for lawyers representing those allegedly cheated in foreign securities markets. Although federal courts have since struggled to apply Morrison’s effect test consistently, it is clear, more than 10 years later, that the decision has had its intended effect.
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Country Report
Icelandic pension funds show readiness to face challenges
The proposed liquidation of Iceland’s Housing Finance Fund is the latest of a string of challenges for Icelandic pension funds
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Special ReportUSS settlement with Petrobras and PWC Brazilian subsidiary
In February 2018, the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) reached a settlement with PWC’s Brazilian subsidiary as part of a class action lawsuit against Petrobras.
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Special ReportAP7 notches up legal success against Kraft Heinz
In May 2023, Sweden’s AP7 fund recorded a significant victory for Swedish and other investors when US food giant Kraft Heinz agreed to settle a class action lawsuit for $450m (€421m).
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Special ReportColorado fire and police settle with Cognizant
In August 2021, Fire and Police Pension Association Colorado (FPPA), alongside other plaintiffs, reached a settlement with Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation for $95m (€88.7m).
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Special ReportBuilding a class action toolbox for investors
As class actions have started to play an increasingly important role in good governance for UK and European pensions funds, the need to establish best practice in the field is growing.
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Opinion PiecesWill social partners carve a new role for themselves in pensions?
Social partnership can mean different things in many countries, or very little at all in others. The concept resonates most in continental Europe, where a tripartite framework of social-market capitalism has taken root since the second world war, in which corporatist decision-making involving government, labour and employer voices is entrenched.
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Opinion PiecesInvestors should focus on debt sustainability
The good news for institutional investors as 2024 approaches is that central banks seem to have accomplished something remarkable. Inflation is falling in the US and Europe after rising to levels not seen for decades, thanks to what have been among the fastest and sharpest rate hikes. Economic growth has held up, at least in the US. Many economists expect a soft landing there, and a mild recession in Europe.
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Opinion PiecesInvestors could do more to boost German start-ups
The German constitutional court’s ruling that the government’s reallocation of €60bn worth of debt to the country’s Climate and Transformation Fund is unlawful was a blow. But there was also also some welcome news last month.
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Opinion PiecesElection result is bad news for the pension sector
NSC, the new political party that made headlines in this publication with its controversial plan to block pension funds from converting DB pensions to DC without explicit consent from members, did not win the landslide victory that many pension executives feared. But they probably did not get a good night’s sleep anyway.
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Opinion PiecesActive management is back on the menu for US pensions
Rising rates and market volatility are forcing US pension funds to rethink their approach to passive and active investing. They are realising that their US stock portfolios are not diversified enough to help protect against a correction. But change may not come so fast.
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Opinion PiecesSuper funds voice corporate governance concerns with Australian business
At its recent annual general meeting in Melbourne, Qantas, Australia’s national carrier, was lambasted by irate shareholders over a litany of grievances, not least the role of chairman Richard Goyder and the board over what shareholders saw as the mismanagement of the airline.
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AnalysisIreland’s new sovereign wealth fund
The planned Future Ireland Fund (FIF) aims to cover expected future costs such as pensions and healthcare
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Opinion PiecesSecurities litigation can be worth the effort
Pension funds and other institutional investors face an uphill challenge when it comes to managing their investor action responsibilities.
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InterviewsPension funds ride out the macro uncertainty
European institutions reflect on their priorities for 2024, as the fundamental questions about inflation and the impact of higher interest rates remain unanswered
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InterviewsBenefits of travelling together in pensions: Wyn Francis’s journey from BT to Brightwell
Wyn Francis, CIO of Brightwell, talks to Carlo Svaluto Moreolo about the new phase of development for the organisation
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FeaturesPrivate debt managers bullish despite uncertainty
When the global financial crisis wreaked havoc across the banking sector, private credit emerged as a potential winner.
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FeaturesAvoided emissions: measuring carbon that didn’t enter the atmosphere
A few years ago, a footwear producer’s claim that it was reducing carbon emissions in the economy because its customers walked rather than took the car provoked amusement among investment managers. It wanted to prove its product was healthier and greener than competing transport modes by claiming credit for emissions prevented from petrol use. This autumn, assessments of the role played by individual low-carbon products in replacing fossil fuels are again under scrutiny in the finance sector.
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InterviewsFiera Capital: Montreal’s succession story
If Fiera Capital were a retail store it might need a big shop window. It is perhaps better known in the institutional world outside Canada for strategies like real assets but Fiera is a full-service asset manager that is also a big deal in its home town of Montreal.
