Comment
IPE’s columnists and guest writers dig into the hot topics for the pensions and investment industries with thoughtful commentary and reaction from around the world
Irish pensions auto-enrolment is a worthy challenge
Irish citizens are set to get a retirement boost following the government’s decision to implement its auto-enrolment retirement savings scheme in 2024. That is, if all goes to plan. Under the proposed scheme, which has been a topic of debate in Irish politics for at least 15 years, employees will have access to a workplace pension savings scheme that is co-funded by their employer and the state.
From the editor
Ireland – future pensions tiger
Ireland stands a few policy steps away from the creation of a serious first and second-pillar pensions architecture that will improve the country’s international standing in terms of retirement provision.
Viewpoint
Regulation of private markets is essential
The private markets industry is feeling the pinch. Private equity managers, in particular, are having a hard time raising capital and exiting investments. There are also questions about returns from recent vintages, as businesses struggle with inflation and a choppier trading environment. Meanwhile, private credit managers are pushing back loan repayments to safeguard returns as higher interest rates reduce borrowers’ ability to fulfil their obligations.
Sweden’s Alecta seems immune from criticism but beware the watchdog
Right now, Alecta cuts a strange figure – one of Europe’s biggest pensions institutions wounded after gaping investment losses, and sustaining still worse injuries from the monopolistic hubris it leaves in its wake.
Pensions a bright spot for Australia
By 2063, Australia’s relatively youthful treasurer, Jim Chalmers, will be 85 years old and likely well into retirement.
SEC cracks down on private equity and hedge funds
Pension funds, university endowments, insurance funds, and other institutional investors have long called for more transparency about their investments in private equity and hedge funds.
Books: Financial crises and the failure of risk measures
This is a great book for anybody who would like to understand the causes and dynamics of financial crises. The author delivers deep insights into systemic financial risks for our economies, and why risk management tools and regulations fail when it matters most. The text is written in conversational style, full of anecdotes, wisdoms and polemics, which makes reading a pleasure even for the non-expert. To be recommended not only for risk managers but also for investment directors and trustees.
Books: How liquid are liquid assets?
Amin Rajan speaks to Pascal Blanqué about his latest book
Bookmarks
Add articles to your page by bookmarking a page. Simply click the icon on articles or the search results.
Viewpoint: Why we closed Net Zero Now to new employers despite its popularity
A change in the consensus around the role of offsetting to achieve net zero was one consideration, explains UK master trust Cushon’s director of policy and research
Viewpoint: A response to ISSB’s Faber’s ‘triple illusion’ criticism of double materiality
Frédéric Ducoulombier, of EDHEC-Risk Climate Impact Institute, says the ISSB chair straw-mans the positions of advocates of the EU ESRS’s double materiality
Viewpoint: To outsource, or not to outsource? The rise of OCIOs
OCIO is a trend being encouraged by market volatility, increased portfolio intricacy, and the growing burden of regulatory compliance
Investors do not care about physical climate risks
One of the most pressing questions facing today’s climate research is whether climate change risks are reflected in stock prices. In a peer-reviewed study* recently accepted for publication in Journal of Banking and Finance, we found that investors only care about climate change risks when policymakers intervene, not about physical climate risks.
Australian super funds expand their global footprint
With billions of dollars flowing into its treasury each year, Australia’s largest industry super fund, AustralianSuper, is finding that it is rapidly outgrowing its own backyard.
US pension funds hone in on private credit
Private credit has been one of the fastest growing asset classes in the institutional world over the past several years, according to Catherine Beard, senior vice-president in consultancy Callan’s alternatives group.
Don't expect Dutch pension funds to make a big move to alternative investments
It is often assumed that the upcoming pension reform in the Netherlands will lead pension funds to increase their allocations to alternative assets as their policy priorities will move from protecting their funding ratios to providing indexation for their members.
NBIM’s Shanghai exit: more than ‘operational’ adjustment’
When Norway’s sovereign wealth fund announced in September it was shutting down its only office in China, the move was bound to be seen as symbolic of the deteriorating relationship between China and the US and its allies. It also came at a low-point for investment in China, with foreigners having sold off a record CNY90bn (€11.5bn) of Chinese stocks in August, amid fears over China’s tensions with the West, its property crisis and weak post-COVID economic recovery.
Pension funds can drive the AI revolution
Time and again we are reminded that the sole focus of pension funds should be on paying pensions. However, as stewards of capital, and because of their irreplaceable social function, they can aspire to be something greater than that. One outcome of pension funds’ decisions that is well within reach is positive technological innovation, including within the field of artificial intelligence (AI).
Does the UK really need to consolidate thousands of DB schemes?
The UK’s so-called Mansion House Reforms are under way. This cluster of policies takes its name from the residence of the Lord Mayor of the City of London, which is the venue for a regular set-piece policy speech by British chancellors of the exchequer, the latest of whom is Jeremy Hunt.
Copyright © 1997–2023 IPE International Publishers Limited, Registered in England, Reg No. 3233596, VAT No. 685 1784 92. Registered Office: 1 Kentish Buildings, 125 Borough High Street, London SE1 1NP