All IPE articles in November 2012 (Magazine)
View all stories from this issue.
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Country Report
Nordic Region: Not too much, not too little
Consensus could wreck the chances of effective reform to Sweden’s buffer funds, writes Pirkko Juntunen
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Opinion Pieces
Joseph Mariathasan: The UK should set up a sovereign wealth fund
Britain faces the prospect of an ageing population with a consequent rise in its dependency ratio, and an economy in decline relative to the rest of the world.
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Country Report
Nordic Region: Good governance is essential
Pirkko Juntunen finds the chairman of the buffer fund inquiry, Mats Langensjö, pragmatic about his committee’s proposals
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Special Report
Integrating ESG issues with executive pay
By linking executive pay to transparent and measurable ESG factors, companies can show they take ESG issues seriously. Nina Röhrbein reports on work being done in this area
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Features
Factoring ESG issues
Respondents to this month’s Off The Record survey highlighted various issues they felt to be their main responsibility as a fiduciary. A UK fund stated: “The fiduciary duty of a pension fund is to pay the pension promise to its members. Where ESG issues have the potential to impact the ...
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Special Report
Risk Managed Equities: Theory and practice
Low-volatility portfolios seem, empirically, to outperform high-volatility portfolios, and there are plenty of theories to explain why. But Lynn Strongin Dodds finds practitioners tinkering with the pure expression of this insight because lowering volatility risk results in other risks popping up in its place
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Special Report
Risk Managed Equities: More than just excess return
If the low-volatility ‘anomaly’ did not exist, would pension funds still have risk-management uses for these strategies? Rachel Fixsen investigates
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Special Report
Risk Managed Equities: Unmasking the wizards
AQR Capital Management tries to direct its clients’ attention away from the supposed insights of market ‘wizards’ and back on to what makes markets tick. Martin Steward caught up with some of its senior leadership in its new London office
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Special Report
Risk Managed Equities: Winning by not losing
Rich Dell and Phil Edwards explore the nature of low-volatility offerings and the challenge created by the proliferation of idiosyncratic strategies
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Special Report
Risk Managed Equities: Low-vol equities: mind the gap
Stephen Miles looks at the pitfalls between a smart idea and its smart execution
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Features
New twist in Dutch pension reform
On 24 September, the long, drawn-out process of Dutch pension reform took a new turn when state secretary for social affairs and labour Paul de Krom unveiled the so-called ‘September package’, a comprehensive set of new rules for pension funds. The package seeks to flesh out labour minister Henk Kamp’s ...
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Special Report
Currency Management: Minding the pennies and cents
Pension funds are learning that currency costs need to be managed, writes Gerry O’Kane
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Country Report
Nordic Region: Continued caution
Henrik Hoffmann-Fischer outlines the key findings of the seventh Nordic Investor Survey on asset allocation as Nordic investors search for yield
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Special Report
Risk Managed Equities: CAPE crusaders
Barclays has launched three indices based on Robert Shiller’s cyclically-adjusted price-earnings ratio for sectors. Martin Steward met the Yale academic to discuss what they bring to the growing world of ‘smart beta’
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Country Report
Nordic Region: Bouncing off the floor
A temporary reprieve from the regulator to deal with ultra low rates has largely been rebuffed by Swedish pension funds, finds Nina Röhrbein
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Country Report
Nordic Region: Beyond Finland
Reeta Paakkinen spoke to Finnish pension fund chiefs about their changing asset allocation in the face of low yields and the euro-zone crisis
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Special Report
Risk Managed Equities: Betting on low-vol stocks
Anthony Harrington looks at the debate between minimum variance strategists and risk-efficiency strategists. Is one solution merely a staging post on route to the other?
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Special Report
Risk Managed Equities: A better mousetrap
A pioneer of the alternative indexing world weighs in with a minimum-variance product. Martin Steward talks to Rob Arnott about his latest innovation
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Special Report
Active on governance
Robert Monks tells Nina Röhrbein that institutional investors must get more active in corporate governance
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Features
Voluntary reform?
Last month the Dutch caretaker government introduced a new set of rules for pension funds designed to avert dramatic benefit cuts and contribution hikes. The so-called ‘September package’ represents a typical Dutch compromise – it offers something for everyone, everything for no-one, and nothing for free.
