All IPE articles in November 2002 (Magazine)
View all stories from this issue.
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Features
Unassailable position
The merger between CRESTCo, the UK depository, and Euroclear has once again thrown the spotlight onto the rationalisation of the clearing and settlement infrastructure for European equity and fixed income transactions. For Euroclear – which had already absorbed the French (Sicovam), Dutch (Necigef) and Belgian (CIK) CSDs – it is ...
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Features
Spotting the turning points
When will share prices in the US finally hit bottom? Faced with the endless questioning from investors, equity strategists have trawled through the data, and some have come up with reasons to be optimistic. “Identifying turning points is clearly very difficult,” says Sam Mercer-Nairne, US fund manager as SG Asset ...
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Features
Price of refusing placements
Go executive, go north, west, east or south, if your master bids you. This is one of the uncompromising findings of an expatriate survey among major multinationals by consultants Mercer of a group of major multinationals, most of which were companies with headquarters in continental Europe or the UK. According ...
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Features
Time to pay more for pensions
Occupational pension schemes are currently being buffeted by storms in the equity markets. In particular, companies providing defined benefit (DB) pensions, who enjoyed pension contribution holidays when stock markets were booming, are now faced with shortfalls in their pension fund assets. In the Netherlands, pensioners have set up lobby groups ...
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Features
Russian pensions 'opening up'
Pension system reforms in Russia and the CIS could open doors to those countries for foreign fund managers. Russia has been tackling the issue of non-state pension funds reform for 10 years. Introduced only in 1991, by 1993 there were already 1,000 non-state schemes. As tough requirements were introduced, however, this figure shrank. As of 2001, there were 268 non-state pension funds in Russia with e1.6bn in total assets.
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Features
Time for 'the negative option'
Italy has staked the future of its fledgling second pillar pension system on defined contribution (DC) schemes. The legal framework for the system was set up as part of the pension reforms of two former prime ministers Giuliano Amato in 1993 and Lamberto Dini in 1995. However, it has been ...
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Features
Limits to indexing
With passive investment on the rise, providers are seeking to make indices out of anything that will fit. Equities are now indexed by sector, sub-sector, region, style and environmental record, and fixed income indices can be tracked successfully by institutional and retail investors alike. Commodities too, can now be held ...
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Features
Knowing how you're doing
As the markets continue to go through difficult and unsettled times, investors are demanding more reporting on performance and attribution, both in terms of frequency and depth. Funds and asset managers are under pressure to meet international standards of reporting and to make their reports more accessible, including daily, if ...
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Special Report
Message from on high
Hermes, the pensions management firm, wholly-owned by the BT pension scheme, is living up to its moniker with the unveiling of its new corporate governance charter – ‘The Hermes Principles’, which it believes could send an important message to institutional shareholders about how they invest in companies. The 10 principles, ...
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Features
Staying out of the headlines
Eighteen months ago employee benefits accounting was considered a fairly dull subject, of little interest to anyone not directly involved in annual reporting activity. In recent months employee benefits accounting has received huge media interest and all stakeholders are now paying attention. What catapulted employee benefits accounting to the top ...
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Features
World 'not going under'
“It has been grim. We haven’t seen conditions like these for years”, says Pictet’s Rajeev de Mello, “and no we don’t think there’s light at the end of the tunnel.” As a fixed income fund manager shouldn’t he be happy with rates continuing to fall? Is he a hedge fund ...
