All IPE articles in October 2013 (Magazine)

View all stories from this issue.

  • Special Report

    Transparency under the spotlight

    October 2013 (Magazine)

    The mandatory reporting regime of the UN Principles for Responsible Investment has caused controversy. But advocates say it will shine a light on ESG integration. Mark Nicholls reports

  • Features

    Politics and sovereign wealth

    October 2013 (Magazine)

    Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global is now the third-largest institutional investor in the world, after Japan’s Government Pension Fund and China’s SAFE

  • Features

    In the pipeline

    October 2013 (Magazine)

    It’s a fine September morning and I am over the North Sea in a helicopter together with Geert, our bright young spark in the investment department. But it’s not just a day out and we are all dressed in hard hats and waterproofs since we are on our way visit a gas installation. Our proposed investment is nowhere to be seen, though, as it is a share in a gas pipeline network on the seabed.

  • Time for an Overhaul
    Features

    Time for an overhaul

    October 2013 (Magazine)

    With yields rising and pension schemes continuing to increase their allocation to bonds, Peter Ball asks how trustees can plug the deficit in their schemes

  • Castle Square in Warsaw, Poland
    Features

    Polish reform: A lot not to like

    October 2013 (Magazine)

    Managers of Polish pension funds can at least be grateful their industry has not been entirely nationalised

  • Features

    IORP II: Keep it proportional

    October 2013 (Magazine)

    PensionsEurope gives a general thumbs-up to Brussels’ planned improvements to governance standards for occupational pensions

  • Special Report

    Are loyalty shares a game-changer?

    October 2013 (Magazine)

    Nina Roehrbein asked Mirjam Staub-Bisang about sustainable investment in Switzerland

  • Features

    Focus Group: The real thing

    October 2013 (Magazine)

    Just under half of the respondents to this month’s Off The Record survey expect their allocation to real assets to increase a little over the next five years. On average, respondents currently invest 24.4% of their fund in real assets – although some investors have a more expansive definition for the term than others. One fund included the 5% it has in private equity, for example; two others included their listed equities; and two even included bonds, without specifying whether these were inflation-indexed.

  • Country Report

    Spain: A flight to the known

    October 2013 (Magazine)

    Spanish pension funds have increased their domestic government bond holdings as economic confidence slowly returns. Gail Moss reports

  • Features

    Mixed evidence on financialisation

    October 2013 (Magazine)

    Lorenzo Naranjo and Carmen Stefanescu note that commodity futures volatility has been rising since the era of ‘financialisation’ – but also that the correlation with equity market volatility long pre-dates this period

  • Features

    Will Draghi repeat Trichet’s mistake?

    October 2013 (Magazine)

    This month, one of the interviewees for our Strategy Review advises us to “look at the strength of the euro”

  • Oil platform
    Features

    Norwegian oil fund: unification or division

    October 2013 (Magazine)

    As the largest pot of institutional money in Europe and the third largest in the world, the Norwegian Pension Fund Global was bound to be the topic of debate during Norway’s recent election

  • Features

    IASB: Plans on disclosure

    October 2013 (Magazine)

    The International Accounting Standards Board has always had a problem with disclosure

  • Country Report

    Spain: Crisis prompts overhaul

    October 2013 (Magazine)

    Social partners are set to agree changes to state pensions, according to Gail Moss, while the industry awaits detailed proposals aimed to boost supplementary pensions

  • Interviews

    M&G Fixed Income: Shining a light in the cracks

    October 2013 (Magazine)

    IPE editor Liam Kennedy sits down with M&G chief executive Simon Pilcher

  • Features

    The inconstant constant

    October 2013 (Magazine)

    Regulation threatens the existence of Constant Net Asset Value money market funds. David Turner asks if investors will miss them

  • Features

    Command, control and organisation

    October 2013 (Magazine)

    Gail Moss outlines the duties of the investment committee chair – one of the most influential positions in a pension fund

  • Country Report

    Portugal: Cautious steps towards risk taking

    October 2013 (Magazine)

    Portugal’s supplementary pension funds have increased their equity weightings but are still cautious on fixed income, writes Gail Moss

  • Features

    Carbon investment: worth the risk?

    October 2013 (Magazine)

    Gyorgy Dallos argues that the financial risks associated with investing in fossil-fuel companies will increase as they extract in more hazardous places and stricter carbon constraints are enforced

  • Asset Class Reports

    Sovereign Bonds: A wealth of opportunity

    October 2013 (Magazine)

    Martin Steward speaks with Stratton Street Capital, which believes a sovereign’s wealth determines the performance of its bond and currency markets