All IPE articles in November 2005 (Magazine)

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  • Special Report

    Seeing the wood

    November 2005 (Magazine)

    The principle of keeping things simple may well turn out to be critical in gaining widespread acceptance of environmental reporting requirements. Simon Thomas is chief executive at Trucost, a research consultancy which specialises in measuring the impact companies have on the environment. He refers to a recent report compiled by ...

  • Features

    Singapore searches for the 'X-factor'

    November 2005 (Magazine)

    When asked if Singapore had the “X-factor” of a top-class, world city, many of its urban planners, architects and developers said “no”. They believed that it was nothing more than a “wannabe” in global terms. Nevertheless, as southeast Asia’s most liquid real estate market and the current hub for the ...

  • Features

    Starting a system from scratch

    November 2005 (Magazine)

    The office of Mikhel Oim, executive chairman of Hansa Fund Management, is in Tallinn’s burgeoning modern business sector, which spreads out below the picturesque old walled town. Its location mirrors the country’s pensions sector, which has seen new second and third pillar schemes grafted onto a crumbling Soviet-era PAYG first ...

  • Features

    Shallower returns

    November 2005 (Magazine)

    While the performance of funds of funds for August has been in keeping with the previous three months’ very positive and rising returns, the slope of the rise has taken a turn towards the shallow. The Eurekahedge Global Fund of Funds Index returned 0.8% in August (as compared with +1.6% ...

  • Features

    Ready for take off

    November 2005 (Magazine)

    Toine van der Stee, who took over as managing director of Blue Sky Group recently, is a relative new comer to the pension sector and appears very upbeat about current developments. “I always make a comparison between the pension sector and other financial sectors in the Netherlands,” he says “Some ...

  • Features

    Portugal reinstates tax perks

    November 2005 (Magazine)

  • Special Report

    Transparent ownership

    November 2005 (Magazine)

    In Hermes’ view good management and good governance are synonymous. It is difficult to imagine a well managed company that has poor governance. All the evidence is that well governed companies do better and are more highly valued by the market. Furthermore, the improvement and the market’s appreciation of that ...

  • Features

    Options see-saw on prospects

    November 2005 (Magazine)

  • Features

    More property needed

    November 2005 (Magazine)

  • Special Report

    Why we need whistleblowers

    November 2005 (Magazine)

    Keith Ambachtsheer, a pensions guru on both sides of the Atlantic, has a different slant on what can make defined benefit schemes sustainable long term. Speaking recently in the US to a conference of teacher retirement plans, he told delegates: “You need a whistleblower.” Toronto-based Ambachtsheer, who acts as a ...

  • Features

    Moving into uncharted waters

    November 2005 (Magazine)

    As the yields on long-term lending shrink, it becomes harder for active managers to justify their fees managing these kinds of investments. Indeed, there is a case for saying that the credit markets in total are not attractive right now for institutions, with even BBB bonds offering just 50-70 basis ...

  • Features

    Tailoring messages to members

    November 2005 (Magazine)

    Like many aspects of modern life, pensions are becoming less standardised and more complex, with individuals facing more choice and demanding more information tailored to their needs. As pension funds try to meet the requirements of their members, communication is becoming an increasingly important part of the service they provide. ...

  • Features

    Maximising your potential

    November 2005 (Magazine)

    The balance between work and family is of crucial importance for the key challenge Europe is facing: how to enhance innovation by creating a competitive internal market with an adaptable work force while at the same time maintaining social cohesion. The reason is that human capital is the key to ...

  • Features

    The perils of serving two masters

    November 2005 (Magazine)

    Anyone who has attempted to serve two masters knows that the risk of conflicts is enormous. Real success is only possible in two cases: where the two masters have no overlapping interests or when they have completely aligned interests. Dutch pension funds have a long history of serving multiple masters, ...

  • Features

    Market's quiet revolution

    November 2005 (Magazine)

  • Features

    Norway starts mandatory pensions

    November 2005 (Magazine)

    The Norwegian government has put into motion the process of setting up a mandatory occupational pensions regime that could affect up to 600,000 people. The proposed new law will come into affect from next year and follows a white paper and consultation period. The parliament, the Storting, decided in May ...

  • Features

    Managers making their mark

    November 2005 (Magazine)

    To get an idea why the US investment bank Goldman Sachs is widely respected, consider what it has achieved in Germany since arriving there 15 years ago. Goldman Sachs, which runs a smallish operation in a skyscraper next to Frankfurt’s trade fair, has for years consistently been at the top ...

  • Features

    Makeover for the tried and true

    November 2005 (Magazine)

    It has been a bumper year for German investors so far. Global equities up about 16%, European equities a percentage point higher and even doughty European fixed income has returned 5%. But in spite of the markets’ generosity, providers are still banging the drum for innovation. They fear that unless ...

  • Features

    Are you listening?

    November 2005 (Magazine)

    Less than half of all EU member states were able to meet the 23 September deadline for telling the Commission that they had been able to fully implement the Institutions for Occupational Provision’s (IORP) directive, but many in the industry say this should not be a cause for concern. Previously, ...

  • Features

    Sweden's red light zone

    November 2005 (Magazine)

    The Swedish financial regulator Finansinspektionen (FI) has launched a consultation on a proposal to identify possible problems at occupational pension funds and life companies using the so-called traffic-light model. Sweden plans to just use red as a signal. “Using the traffic-light model, FI will be able to identify at an ...