All IPE articles in October 2012 (Magazine)
View all stories from this issue.
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Country Report
Spain: Crisis philosophy
Gail Moss finds that Spanish pension funds are confident about their ability to weather the storms of financial and economic turmoil
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Country Report
Portugal: Serious challenges
The 2011 nationalisation of pension assets reduced Portugal’s supplementary pension savings by a third, writes Gail Moss. Development of the second pillar remains a priority
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Asset Class Reports
Sovereign Bonds: Risk-free no longer
Joseph Mariathasan looks at how investors are adapting to the new world of sovereign bond risk
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Asset Class Reports
Sovereign Bonds: The world’s shallowest cliff
Rock-bottom yields and a poor debt outlook – brought into focus by the ‘fiscal cliff’ – make US Treasuries a tough ‘safe haven’ to love, finds Joseph Mariathsan
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Asset Class Reports
Sovereign Bonds: Denmark: an unlikely haven?
Denmark’s bonds, perceived as a safe haven from volatility in the euro-zone, have the lowest yields on the market. But Pavle Sabic argues that its fundamentals versus its Nordic neighbours suggest this is not simply about credit risk
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Asset Class Reports
Sovereign Bonds: Would you credit it?
The split between Gilts and non-Gilts could be waiting to define tomorrow’s performance in UK fixed income strategies, finds Martin Steward
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Country Report
Spain:Looking ahead
Cécile Sourbes interviews Angel Martínez-Aldama, director of the Spanish investment and pension fund association (INVERCO)
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Interviews
Life on planet TOBAM
Quantitative asset managers aren’t particularly noted for prioritising ESG matters.
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Opinion Pieces
LIBOR litigation looms
US pension funds are still trying to understand the impact of the LIBOR scandal on their assets to assess whether they should launch a class action against the banks involved in the case. The matter is highly complex and could lead to tens of billions of dollars in claims, not just from pension funds but also from cities, states, lenders, insurers and other investors who say they were hurt by the allegedly manipulated rates.
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Features
Just who can you trust?
With anti-Europe sentiment running high, bailout fatigue widespread and austerity resentment reaching a fever pitch, the Dutch election of 12 September was widely seen as a bellwether ballot. For a while, the euro-sceptic Socialist Party seemed destined for a landslide win, with polls showing the socialists taking 39 seats in the 150-seat lower house – a 24-seat gain – leaving the conservative VVD of prime minister Mark Rutte in the dust.
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Features
Investing in solar and student loans
Nina Röhrbein spoke with Hans Wilhelm Korfmacher, managing director at WPV about the pension fund’s highly diversified investment strategy.
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Special Report
As safe as houses
The fixed index-linked cashflows provided by social housing and infrastructure investments can be attractive to investors comfortable with long-term investing, finds Nina Röhrbein
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Opinion Pieces
Long-term Matters: Kay - make your voice heard
The Kay review is the best thing we’ve had on short-termism for decades
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Features
A long road to a new form of lending
In recent years, a number of asset managers have touted infrastructure’s profile as an asset class. They point out that infrastructure is largely uncorrelated with other asset classes, not to mention that it matches institutional investors’ long-term liabilities perfectly.
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FeaturesGo with the flows
Dividends really do pay off in emerging markets. Martin Steward asks why, and what the theories tell us about how far investors should tilt towards higher yields.
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Special Report
Fiduciary Management: Trust and mistrust
Dutch pension provision is losing touch with its history of trust, aided and abetted by the DNB, writes Brendan Maton
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Features
Soft and hard factors
Daily, at thousands of pension funds, judgements are formed on asset managers. Those managers may largely be hired and fired on the basis of hard numbers, but relationships are assessed (and sustained through hard times or otherwise curtailed) on the basis of a combination of ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ factors. Tough economic and market conditions increase the importance of those factors. But which ones do pension funds pay closest attention to?
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Features
Squeezing out the last drops
Brendan Maton assesses the favourability of tax-transparent Dublin and Luxembourg pooled funds as a way to avoid being ensnared by US withholding tax
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Features
The Draghi put is no turning point for the euro
As I write on 13 September, it’s been a good week for europhiles. On 6 September,Mario Draghi unveiled the ECB’s plan for Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT). The German Constitutional Court ratified the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) on 12 September. And the Dutch electorate favoured two pro-euro parties.
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Features
Diary of an Investor: Feed the world
It is early September and there’s a chill in the air but the sun is shining. It seems that summer has come late in the Netherlands.
