All articles by Liam Kennedy – Page 17
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Features
Collective lessons from professionals
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.
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Features
Time for trusteeship
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.
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Special Report
Pension Fund Governance: Board effectiveness: From path dependency to integrative thinking
“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.
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News
Dutch government announces new financial assessment framework
No heavy lifting in terms of reforms; funds have more time for implementation
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Features
High frequency problems
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.
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Special ReportTop 400: Global assets up 8.9% in 2013
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.
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Special Report
Credit: A third way
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
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Features
Growing pensions China style
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.
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Interviews
Cautious, Swiss and international
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.
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Features
Beyond the glib view
Credit rating agencies did not cover them- selves in glory in the financial crisis, particularly when it came to the rating of sub-prime credit instruments. While the main ones have taken steps to put their house in order, the EU has targeted the perceived mechanistic over-reliance of institutions on external ratings.
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Country Report
The Netherlands: ‘Our first duty is pensions’
Peter Borgdorff tells Liam Kennedy about PFZW’s new contract with PGGM and its unstinting focus on costs
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Special Report
Europe’s Pension Consultants: Shifting plates
Liam Kennedy questions Chris Ford about ideas, advice and implementation in a changing consulting industry
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Features
Be honest about the cost
Flood protection is generally reckoned to be a sound investment, given the relatively small outlay compared with the high cost to life and property when water inundates homes, shops and factories. When the British Isles were pounded by the severest storms in living memory in February, attention naturally focused on whether budget constraints had jeopardised flood protection, and whether greater expenditure would be needed to secure communities and prevent future floods.
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News
Dual investment objective a 'big challenge' for Ireland's reformed NPRF
CIO says successfor fund will have ‘no hope’ of attracting co-investment without independent governance
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Features
The Canada factor
If only our pension funds could be more Canadian – which is to say, large, well-governed institutions that are prominent and successful investors. Canada has these in spades, counting among its ranks four of the top 20 biggest global real estate investors and also four of the top 20 infrastructure investors respectively.
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Features
Double bottom line
Eugene O’Callaghan, investment director of the National Pensions Reserve Fund, tells Liam Kennedy about the business plan for the new Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and progress so far in transitioning the portfolio into one with a dual mandate for returns and economic impact
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Features
Trust me, I manage money
No-one doubts that trust, ethics and integrity are central to pension and investment management.
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InterviewsDrawing a virtuous circle
A number of prominent bank-owned asset managers have been put up for sale at various times since 2009 – a process that has not always been straightforward for the banks or the asset managers. Pioneer Investments’ proposed sale by its parent Unicredit was finally called off in April 2011, which allowed it to focus on a new set of strategic priorities.
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Features
Variable solutions
Europe is moving slowly and deliberately away from defined benefit pensions to approaches that, if well considered, might prove a sustainable model for workplace retirement provision.
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Interviews
Low fashion, high durability
As Thornburg Investment Management’s fourth employee, Brian McMahon arrived in Santa Fe in 1984 around the same time as the firm acquired a second-hand fax machine from the unsuccessful presidential campaign of Walter Mondale.
