All IPE articles in October 2016 (Magazine)
View all stories from this issue.
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Features
Rethinking political risk
In recent conversations with investors about the prospects for global growth, the focus seemed to be more on the upcoming US election and Brexit than on economic fundamentals. It struck me how musings on political risk can influence an investor’s view on long-term market returns.
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Features
An industrial revolution
There used to be a stark divide in pensions, particularly in the UK and the US, with a high level of security in defined benefit (DB) and a low level in defined contribution (DC)
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FeaturesFrom Our Perspective: How transparent?
Gerard van Olphen, CEO of APG, contends that the Dutch pension sector is in denial about the need for transparency. The same accusation could be levelled against pension funds in other places.
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Special Report
High Yield: A risk worth taking
Despite the inherent risks, pension funds are looking to high-yield debt and syndicated loans in their search for above-average returns, as Anthony Harrington explains
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FeaturesHow we run our money: HeidelbergCement
Marc Boone of HeidelbergCement explains why the group’s approach to running its many pensions schemes is like sailing a fleet of ships
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Special Report
Ircantec: Focusing on growth
The French supplementary pension scheme Ircantec’s plan to diversify its portfolio could be hampered by newly proposed regulatory requirements on asset allocation, says Gail Moss
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Country ReportSpain: Focus on safety first
Pension funds are reducing their risk levels in response to uncertainties generated by Spain’s failure to form a government, Brexit and Italy’s banking crisis
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Special Report
The fall and fall of interest rates
To understand the current low level of interest rates, it is necessary to see it as the culmination of a trend that goes back to the 1980s
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Special Report
Euro-Zone: Unquantifiable QE
The effects of the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing programme are yet to be quantified, leading some to think of it as the world’s biggest ‘experiment’. Caroline Hay reports
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Asset Class Reports
Sensitivity of selected global equity funds to macro factors
The chart data shows the sensitivity of the five largest global equity funds to changes in macroeconomic factors: global default spreads; global interest rates; US Dollar Trade Weighted Index and global inflation. IPE and PureGroup selected the largest domestic and cross-border funds registered for sale in the UK, in terms of assets, from the Morningstar database.
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Interviews
On the Record: What is the role of equities in your portfolio?
Three pension funds - Inarcassa, Publica and Santander UK Group Pension Scheme Common Fund - discuss the equities balance
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Asset Class Reports
Global Equities: The search for global opportunities
Finding attractive companies in the current market environment is no easy matter even within the entire universe of global equities
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Features
Research: Retirement Income - How much is enough?
Bonnie-Jeanne MacDonald outlines a new approach to the calculation of retirement income adequacy
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Features
Hedge Funds: Seeding to enhance returns
Institutional investors face challenging allocation decisions in the current low-yield environment. Mark de Klerk explores how seeding could enhance returns of a hedge fund allocation
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Asset Class Reports
Valuations: Emerging from the wings
Against a backdrop of lacklustre growth in the developed world, emerging markets are beginning to find favour again with investors
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Special Report
UK embraces multi-asset
While multi-asset fixed income strategies have been popular in the UK for some time, European investors are only just beginning to take notice, says Charlotte Moore
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Opinion Pieces
Letter from the US: Pension equities ebb
The defined benefit (DB) pension funds of the companies in the S&P 500 index are in deficit. At December 2015, these were $376.6bn (€337bn) underfunded, according to Citigroup’s chief US equity strategist Tobias Levkovich.
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Special Report
Special Report Fixed Income Strategy: No more easy gains
What started as an emergency measure looks like it has become a permanent state of affairs.
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Features
Risk: Plane disaster lesson for investors
Stephan Lods says analysing decisions that led to a 1977 airline disaster could help investors better understand risk
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Features
Diary of an Investor: At the high table
Recently, I was invited to join a network of financial academics as a ‘practice adviser’, which means I speak to them regularly about the challenges our pension fund faces and what we are doing in the investment portfolio.
