All articles by Liam Kennedy – Page 15

  • Features

    Success (and failure) factors

    April 2015 (Magazine)

    Most of the success or failure of a pension system can be attributed to design and input factors

  • Features

    Asset allocation: Where next?

    March 2015 (Magazine)

    Against the current economic backdrop, trustees and investment committees are unsure which sources of return they should allocate capital to, Liam Kennedy writes

  • Features

    Juncker needs you!

    February 2015 (Magazine)

    Pension funds, take note. Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission president, wants your money to invest in a laundry list of up to 2,000 projects.

  • Special Report

    Special Report ESG: Carbon Risk, A low-risk path to carbon reduction

    February 2015 (Magazine)

    The low-carbon index approach adopted by AP4, FRR and ERAFP aims to mitigate climate change (and career) risk, writes Liam Kennedy

  • Special Report

    Special Report ESG: Carbon Risk, How the low-tracking-error green index strategy works

    February 2015 (Magazine)

    As pioneered by the Swedish pension buffer fund AP4, low-tracking-error green indices work on a remarkably simple principle: weighting the stocks in each sector by carbon intensity (CO2 per unit of sales) and removing the most carbon-intense companies and exposure to stranded asset risk in intensity based on market cap.

  • Country Report

    When the trend is not your friend

    January 2015 (Magazine)

    The convergence between asset management and consultancy was a topic for discussion at a conference on fiduciary management organised by the German Federation of Financial Analysts and Asset Management (DVFA) in Frankfurt last November. 

  • Features

    Frozen conflict

    January 2015 (Magazine)

    Since a 1964 report on road pricing in the UK, authored by one RJ Smeed, the idea of charging citizens for use of public highways has been repeatedly raised in Britain. 

  • Features

    Vive la répartition

    December 2014 (Magazine)

    While she might have abolished peculiarities such as yellow car headlights and the old-style caps of the gendarmerie, France’s pension system, based on répartition (redistribution), remains as distinct as ever.

  • Features

    A-shares on the rise

    November 2014 (Magazine)

    There are signs that European institutional investors find Chinese equities interesting. Finland’s Ilmarinen now separates China equity holdings (A and H-shares), in its reports, and Denmark’s AP Pension has boosted its China equity exposure to 5%, although it has excluded domestic property and banks.

  • Features

    The ‘what’ and ‘why’ of costs

    October 2014 (Magazine)

    Controversies around pension funds’ asset management costs in various countries tell us something about the mood of the times, but they also suggest that changes are needed in the way pension boards select and justify their strategy choices to members and the wider world.

  • Interviews

    Three years of the 300

    October 2014 (Magazine)

    Liam Kennedy spoke to Alan Brown and Saker Nusseibeh, two architects of the 300 Club of investment professionals who seek to challenge mainstream investment practice

  • Features

    Collective lessons from professionals

    September 2014 (Magazine)

    Experience shows that the benefits of intergenerational solidarity and collective pension risk sharing are often not appreciated, particularly by those who feel they are shouldering a greater share of the burden than they ought.

  • Features

    Time for trusteeship

    July 2014 (Magazine)

    Senior staff at China Investment Corporation (CIC) are talking about investment governance these days, reflecting growing recognition of the importance of sound non-executive or supervisory board oversight for all kinds of entities, be they global companies, sovereign wealth entities or pension funds.

  • Special Report

    Pension Fund Governance: Board effectiveness: From path dependency to integrative thinking

    July 2014 (Magazine)

    “One of the curses of our industry is path dependency,” says Keith Ambachtsheer, director emeritus of Toronto’s Rotman International Centre for Pension Management (ICPM) and academic director of the Rotman’s Board Effectiveness Programme (BEP) for pension funds. 

  • Knights' Hall at Binnenhof in The Hague
    News

    ​Dutch government announces new financial assessment framework

    2014-06-25T17:28:00Z

    No heavy lifting in terms of reforms; funds have more time for implementation

  • Features

    High frequency problems

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    High frequency trading (HFT) has scuttled into the limelight this year since the publication of Flash Boys, Michael Lewis’ recent book on the subject. While most people agree that faster, smarter trading is generally good, and that rigged markets are an entirely bad thing, there is by no means agreement where HFT fits in.

  • top 400 asset managers 2014
    Special Report

    Top 400: Global assets up 8.9% in 2013

    June 2014 (Magazine)

    M&A has featured highly in asset management in recent years. Until now, this has largely been dictated by external circumstances, such as bank parent companies seeking to increase capital adequacy or to abide by competition regulations.

  • Special Report

    Credit: A third way

    May 2014 (Magazine)

    Liam Kennedy outlines how Natixis, in partnership with insurers Ageas and CNP Assurance, has created an alternative to direct infrastructure lending and investment through funds

  • Features

    Growing pensions China style

    May 2014 (Magazine)

    China launched a massive stimulus pro- gramme in 2008 in its bid to fend off the ravages of the global downturn. While that largely succeeded, there are now long-standing fears of an asset bubble, particularly in property. Growth is predicted to slow this year to its lowest rate since 1990. The country is in the midst of an anti-corruption drive, which is hitting sales of luxury goods, and air quality is still awful.

  • Interviews

    Cautious, Swiss and international

    April 2014 (Magazine)

    As an institutional manager and provider of institutional-type investment management services to private banks, including within its own group, Pictet Asset Management (PAM) clearly stands apart from the private banking fraternity.