Liam Kennedy
Liam is IPE’s editorial director and a board director of IPE International Publishers Ltd. He has over 20 years’ experience as a financial journalist and editor, specialising in the field of institutional investment and pension funds. He is also a regular speaker/moderator at industry events around the world.
Prior to joining IPE in 2007, Liam spent nearly seven years at the Financial Times group in London, where he worked as a specialist editor and writer and launched a number of European pension and investment titles. He holds an MA (Hons) undergraduate degree from the University of Glasgow, UK.
He is a trustee director of the Pensions Scholarship Trust and enjoys opera and running in his spare time.
Contact info
- Tel:
- +44 (0)20 3465 9300
- Email:
- liam.kennedy@ipe.com
Opinion PiecesSolvency II: Rule changes can’t force risk taking
Changing the rules can often seem like a very sensible policy choice – whether a sweeping deregulatory reform or more of a technocratic adjustment to regulations.
- Features
LGIM’s Michelle Scrimgeour: ambitions for growth
Michelle Scrimgeour and her executive team set out their strategic growth priorities in November 2020, a little more than a year after she had taken over as CEO of Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM). They agreed to grow the business by focusing on existing strengths: to modernise, diversify and to internationalise.
- News
Bank of England intervention eases pressure on DB schemes facing margin calls
Pension funds should proactively look for ways to shore up liquidity, says consultancy
- Opinion Pieces
Institutional capital for energy resilience
Ukraine’s independence day on 24 August also marked six months since the start of Russia’s invasion and with it a profound shift in the global geopolitical and economic balance.
- Features
CEE private equity: in search of capital
War in Ukraine is just one factor deterring investment in private equity and growth capital in Central and Eastern Europe
- Special Report
Belgium: Limited agreement on pension changes reached
A minimum monthly first-pillar pension will apply from 2024 but there has been little effort to boost supplementary schemes
- Special Report
Top 1000 Pension Funds 2022: Pension assets increase reflects 2021’s markets
The assets of the leading 1000 European pension funds increased by well over €600bn in our latest survey – a large portion of which can be attributed to strong investment returns on the back of a sustained post-COVID rebound over the course of 2021. Developed market equities returned over 30% in euro terms in 2021, compared with losses of around 4.7% in global aggregate bonds.
- Opinion Pieces
How to bridge a most obvious pension investment gap?
Investment luminaries were recently invited by the CFA Institute to give their opinion on the financial system in a publication to mark the quarter century of the institute’s research award to commemorate Jim Vertin.
- Interviews
Strategically speaking interview: Jose Minaya, Nuveen
Asset managers with a yield-hungry pension investor as a parent nowadays usually have to diversify their footprint into private markets, often by acquisitions in one form or another.
- Country Report
Country Report - Pensions in Italy (July 2022)
Italy’s pension industry continues to develop, albeit at a slow pace. Italian pension funds are adapting their strategies to the volatile and uncertain market regime, by purchasing inflation-linked assets and by taking advantage of potentially higher yields on domestic government bonds. However, as our lead article highlights, they are generally staying true to their long-term diversification strategies, which consist of gradually allocating to alternatives including private equity, private debt and infrastructure. Some have bought shares in the Bank of Italy, a private equity-like investment.
- Opinion Pieces
Pension funds and asset managers: Are you a Yamaha or a Steinway?
In the 1970s, Genichi Kawakami, president of Yamaha Corporation from 1950-77, wanted his pianos to rival those of Steinway.
- Interviews
Strategically speaking interview: Edwin Conway, BlackRock Alternative Investors
Many asset owners focus on the return streams available from private markets investments and the diversification effect of private equity, debt or any of the other flavours available in this sector of the market.
- Asset Class Reports
Quant managers: Quoniam’s Nigel Cresswell
Liam Kennedy spoke to Quoniam Asset Management’s CEO about the challenges and opportunities faced by a quant boutique
- Country Report
Country Report - Pensions in the Nordic Region (June 2022)
We open our June Nordic Region report with a stark question: are asset managers living up to asset-owners expectations on ESG, in particular when it comes to climate change reporting?
- Special Report
Special Report: Outlook
It’s hardly news that inflation is high on asset owners’ minds right now. We asked eight seasoned asset allocators, CIOs and strategists the same question: how do you rate the chances of stagflation? And what to do about it?
- Special Report
Top 500 Asset Managers 2022
The emergence of persistent higher inflation, China’s zero-COVID policy, stress on global supply chains, and Russia’s Ukraine war all suggest that the asset total of this year’s IPE Top 500 Asset Managers Guide represents a high water mark.
- Opinion Pieces
Robust central clearing is critical for millions of Europeans
Derivatives like interest rate swaps are now a central component of risk management best practice. According to a 2018 paper by ISDA and PensionsEurope, the percentage of hedged pension liabilities in Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK ranges from 40-60% of total liabilities.
- Interviews
Strategically speaking interview: Sandro Pierri, BNP Paribas Asset Management
Like many of his counterparts at large asset management firms, Sandro Pierri is mindful of how global trends are influencing his clients and the best ways for his firm to address them.
- Country Report
Country Report - Pensions in the UK (May 2022)
The 80-plus local government pension funds in England and Wales have been on course to consolidate into eight asset pools for the last six years, with a target of €1-2bn in cost savings by 2033.
- Asset Class Reports
Portfolio strategy - Emerging markets (May 2022)
It is no secret that while investments in emerging markets promise to deliver superior returns, thanks to their exposure to faster-growing economies, actual performance has been volatile and, at times, disappointing. Over the past decade, emerging market indices have outperformed, as have fund strategies.
