All Securities Services articles – Page 15
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Features
Busy doing not very much at all
When highlighting the merits of the profession of active manager, stock picking is often presented as the leading factor in the creation of value. After the downturn in the markets in 2000, benchmarked management was vilified in favour of investment management based on ‘convictions’ where small cap stocks, which had ...
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Features
Greek ambitions for financial centre
Two years since Greece hosted the Olympic Games, the country continues to reap the benefits of the investment boost it received in the lead-up to the event. Foreign investment in the Greek market has risen substantially and the financial authorities are keen to establish the country as a hub for ...
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Features
Liabilities not checked by asset growth
Growth of institutional pension fund assets in the 11 major markets measured in local currencies reached around 17% in 2005 and assets now total $16.4trn (€12.8trn). However, despite this significant growth, up from around 7% in 2004, pension fund liabilities also increased by approximately 9% on average in local currency ...
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Features
Cross-border assets post record high
Cross-border mandate investments by US-based tax-exempt institutions reached a record high of $1.17trn (€920m) as of year-end 2005, according to InterSec Research’s most recent direct manager assets under management survey. InterSec Research analyses cross-border mandate investments by US-based tax-exempt institutions through our direct manager AUM survey and universe analytics reporting. ...
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Features
Benign conditions boost Irish schemes
Benign conditions, including higher bond yields and strong equity and property markets, have boosted the health of Irish defined benefit pension schemes in the first quarter, according to Mercer Investment Consulting. According to Mercer estimates, average funding ratios have improved by between 10% and 15% from the end of 2005 ...
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Features
Railpen/JP Morgan custody relationship hits the buffers
The Railways Pension Trustee Company, which runs the £17bn (€25bn) industry-wide pension scheme for the UK railways, has axed JP Morgan as a global custodian in favour of ABN Amro Mellon. It has retained the Bank of New York - opting to continue with its two-custodian model. “Following a detailed ...
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Features
Key to business cycles
The concept of business cycles is relatively modern phenomenon. In the 19th century business cycle were perceived as temporary economic crises. In the 20th century economists began to chart the regularity with which these crises occurred and to regard them as predictable rather than random. Different economic cycles have different ...
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Features
Managing the custody relationship
Often, pension funds fail to obtain full value from their custodians. Increasingly, custodians are providing value added services and pitching themselves to pension funds. Observers say that pension funds need to understand what services they are getting. “It’s not unusual for many pension funds to go through the whole process ...
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Features
Triumph of hope over experience
The worldwide demand for hedge funds and other absolute return funds will grow at an annual rate of 20% over the period 2005-8, according to the 2005 CREATE-KPMG report*. Since millions of people lost billions in the last equity bear market, this aspiration is understandable. It is also easy to ...
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Features
Using overlay strategies
In May, The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead tendered a E599m currency overlay mandate for the £1.3bn (E1.9bn) Berkshire Pension Fund. It is one of a string of pension funds who are looking at diversifying risk through currency overlay. Other recent funds include Strathclyde, which hired Mellon Capital Management, ...
