More comment – Page 30
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Opinion PiecesTake from the young to give to the old
For many years, the Dutch pension system was considered one of the world’s best – it was top in class with Denmark in the Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index annual study last year.
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AnalysisEcology: A car crash in nature
Vian Sharif, head of sustainability at FNZ Group, never imagined her recently completed PhD thesis would have implications for global health. The subject was the trade in endangered animal products such as the scales of pangolins.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: Pooling for savings and strength
The government, the regulator and economic fallout from COVID-19 have combined to pressure Australia’s large and unwieldy pool of super funds towards consolidation.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from US: Diversity in asset management rises
“It is a part of your fiduciary duty to invest the fund’s assets in a prudent manner. Investing with diverse asset managers that demonstrate outperformance and deliver strong returns is more than prudent, it is wise.”
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Opinion PiecesGuest Viewpoint: The growing influence of index providers
Pension funds have shifted assets worth hundreds of billions from actively managed funds to passive funds in recent years. In doing so, they are part of an ongoing money mass-migration from high-fee active funds to low-fee index funds.
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: COVID-19 and fund secondaries – how should pension schemes position themselves?
How should pension schemes best position themselves to take advantage of portfolio secondary sales opportunities? Are there lessons to be learnt from the GFC for pension schemes selling portfolio positions during COVID-19?
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Managing euro zone sovereign risk in the face of the pandemic
Considerations for pension plans and other institutional investors
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Post-COVID-19 predictions
Left and right, predictions on the post COVID-19 era are shooting by
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: UK superfunds – Super fast, or dead in the water?
Will the superfund ship lawfully leave port any time soon? Following the UK pension regulator’s publication of its interim regime for superfunds in June 2020, there is much talk about scheme transfers to superfund being imminent. Clive Weber, pensions partner, and Paul Ashcroft, solicitor, Wedlake Bell LLP, explain why the ...
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Majority of DC schemes not ready for illiquid assets
But the outlook for change may be positive
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Returns to ESG investing - looking for the light
A fundamental question for investors is whether ESG investment involves a tradeoff, a combination of environmental philanthropy and reduced financial returns, or whether ESG investment will simply deliver the best returns to investors.
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: The best things in life aren’t things
Peter Kraneveld argues that ESG and SDG investments are held up to a false standard, underestimating their real revenue and hindering solutions.
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Investing after the Corona Slump
What are the facts that we know and that we can rely on when thinking about portfolio construction?
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Considerations around consolidation vehicles
Much of the debate around consolidation vehicles thus far has focused on the comparison between the security provided by consolidators and that provided by a traditional insurance company.
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Opinion PiecesDutch pensions: the next chapter
For those who have been following the cumbersome multi-year saga of Dutch pensions reform, the latest wrinkle might seem trivial.
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Opinion PiecesTurn crisis into opportunity
One of the most striking features of the discussion of what could be called the Corona crisis – the economic and financial crisis associated with the COVID-19 pandemic – is its pervasive intellectual laziness. Far too few commentators are trying to grapple with its unique features.
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Opinion PiecesGrowing debt levels spell trouble
Credit investors would be wise to reflect upon the growing debt burden weighing on the global economy.
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Opinion PiecesAGMs: Setting new ESG standards
As the AGM season comes to an end for another year, it is worth reflecting upon the high pressure that company boards are facing from investors to take greater account of environmental impact, diversity and executive pay – only a few issues from a long list of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria that most investors now seem to abide by.
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FeaturesInvestment Strategy: Towards sustainable portfolio theory
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the 1990 Nobel prize in Economics given to Harry Markowitz, William Sharpe and Merton Miller. IPE is marking this in several ways. The first event took place at the IPE annual conference in Copenhagen in December 2019, with a panel discussion following on from the showing of a delightful video. The video was based on a few days that TOBAM CEO Yves Choueifaty and I spent with Markowitz in his office in San Diego in June of that year and showed Markowitz’s charm and humility despite his great achievements.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: Paltry pickings in the political pie
As deficits mount in a post-COVID-19 world, politicians and bureaucrats are again eyeing national pension savings – hundreds of billions of dollars they can capture at the stroke of a legislative pen.
