All IPE articles in September 2010 (Magazine)
View all stories from this issue.
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Opinion Pieces
Getting its Act together
US pension funds won two important battles in the debate that led to the approval of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act in July. One is concern over the use of swaps to hedge plan risks, and the other is with stable value funds. The Act is also so complex that institutional investors are still waiting to see how it will affect them. It runs to more than 2,300 pages and its full impact might not be felt for years: according to conservative estimates, regulators have been conducting nearly 100 studies and writing more than 350 new rules implementing the changes.
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Features
The new silver bullet in the age of uncertainty
In the second article in a new series, Nick Lyster and Amin Rajan argue that the credit crunch has exploded the myth that asset managers and pension consultants possess rare insights
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Asset Class Reports
Emerging Market Debt: Portfolio focus: Fringe benefits
As an asset class, emerging market debt (EMD) is generating a real buzz among asset managers and investors. It may take some time, but pension fund allocations are expected to rise, given the mismatch between current allocations to the emerging markets and their increasing economic importance. Insight Investment head of EMD, Colm McDonagh, says: “Less than 1% of global pension fund assets are in emerging markets; it should be significantly higher. Within 10 years, emerging market countries will have 50% of global GDP.”
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Features
Thumbs up for central control
This month’s Off The Record poll focused on derivatives, operational risk and custody. Some 61% of respondents felt it was positive that measures in Brussels and the US would force pension funds to clear derivatives using a central counterparty. “Central banks need to be able to control markets in extremis, as we saw two years ago. The only beneficiaries of off-exchange derivatives are investment banks. End users of derivatives should be happy to see them go to central clearers,” said a UK fund. Another UK fund added: “Being transparent will be important”.
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Features
Pensions Green Paper has industry reaching for fine-tooth comb
The European Commission takes pains to emphasise what its latest Green Paper on pensions does not do. The paper, for instance, does not make any specific proposals. Nor does it recommend increasing the age at which people can draw a pension. Nor does it try to force people to take out a private pension. The only thing the Commission wants the Green Paper to do, it says, is start a debate about “whether and how” the European pensions framework should be developed.
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Opinion Pieces
The Commission hides its teeth
The authors of the European Commission’s policy paper, ‘Towards Adequate, Sustainable and Safe European Pension Systems’, are clearly aware that solving Europe’s pension challenge is a formidable task. Not only are there the oft-cited demographic problems and injustices to workers who move across national boundaries, but there is also the fragmented nature of member states’ legislative frameworks to consider.
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Asset Class ReportsEmerging market debt – A reconfiguring world
High credit spreads and strong currency performance are just two reasons why emerging debt markets are set to eclipse the performance of G7 countries in the coming year, writes Peter Marber
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Special Report
Garbage in, garbage out
Like all investment data and ratings, environmental, social and governance indicators need to be scrubbed clean and carefully analysed, writes Adam Seitchik
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Interviews
From growth to profitability
Arjun Divecha likes to talk personal hygiene. In particular he likes to tell a story about HengAn International, China’s leading producer of sanitary towels and diapers.
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Features
Jump the hurdle
Nina Röhrbein spoke with Dirk Lepelmeier (pictured), managing director of Nordrheinische Ärzteversorgung (NAEV), the pension fund for North Rhine Westphalia’s medical profession about the challenge of successfully obtaining an annual internal rate of return in a highly volatile market
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Features
Passports to success
Fernand Schoppig presents insights into asset managers’ strategies for international marketing from FS Associates’ survey ‘Cross-Border Distribution of Asset Management Services 2010’
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Special ReportBP, investors’ blind spot
Has the need for dividends compromised the green credentials of pension funds when it comes to oil companies such as BP? Nina Röhrbein reports
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Special Report
Securities Services: Risk and return
The credit crisis has focused the minds of lenders on getting their risk-reward parameters right, as Susan Pike explains
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Special Report
Securities Services: Welcome to the dark side
Traders seeking maximum liquidity with minimum impact on the markets are turning to the dark arts, says Simmy Grewal
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Special Report
Securities Services: A matter of choice
Andrew Baker says the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive could restrict choice and impose some unreasonable burdens on depositaries
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Special Report
Securities Services: Testing times ahead
With consolidation and growth expected in the European custody markets in the coming years, Luxembourg could be one of the biggest beneficiaries, says Iain Morse
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Special Report
Securities Services: Liabilities into assets
As large, maturing pension schemes turn to liability-driven investing, Benjie Fraser talks to Martin Steward about the opportunities available to custodians that can draw on broader institutional capacity and expertise
