All IPE articles in April 2024 (Magazine)
View all stories from this issue.
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Special ReportManager selection: Solving the pension liquidity puzzle
Advisers and fiduciary managers are working as hard as ever to meet the liquidity needs of pension funds
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AnalysisA template for innovation and investment opportunity in health services
Introducing innovations into entrenched organisations is always a challenge. No more so than in the UK’s much loved, much criticised and, many would argue, barely functioning National Health Service (NHS). Yet revolutions in AI and technology should be able to transform the NHS for the better in a cost-effective manner.
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InterviewsMercer’s Rich Nuzum: soft skills are the hardest in investment governance
Mercer’s recent acquisition of Vanguard’s outsourced chief investment officer (CIO) business and its sale of two administration units points to changes in asset management as firms continue to focus on core activities.
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FeaturesInvestors are paying for hedge funds' reluctance to use hurdle rates
Although two years have now passed since the US Federal Reserve started rapidly hiking interest rates, the likelihood that your hedge fund manager will have a ‘hurdle rate’ – a minimum rate of return before performance fees kick in – has not changed. Only a quarter of hedge funds, by our count, have such a threshold in place and the practice does not yet show signs of becoming more widespread, even though the risk-free rate has now exceeded 4% for well over a year.
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FeaturesMeasuring the impact of non financial factors on GDP growth
In their paper entitled Modeling the Links Between Economic Growth, Socio-economic Dynamics and Environmental Dimensions: a Panel VAR Approach, the authors attempt to quantify direct and indirect causalities between economic growth and extra-financial dimensions, including demographics, biodiversity, climate change, political stability, inequalities and economic growth.
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Opinion PiecesA new era for pension fund liquidity management
With inflation past its peak and central banks signalling monetary easing, investors can look forward to a prolonged period when interest rates will be at normal levels – barring any surprise decline in economic growth or other kinds of shocks.
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Asset Class ReportsEmerging market equities: investors grapple with peak political risk
As billions of people head to the polls in 2024, how will politics influence flows to emerging market equities?
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Opinion PiecesWhy General Electric’s pension management model has finally passed its prime
The late Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric for two decades until 2001, was not only a legendary businessman who grew GE’s market cap 30-fold over his tenure. He also inspired a minor revolution in pension fund management that dates back to the days of mainframe computers and telex machines.
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Opinion PiecesCould Dutch pension reforms still be reversed?
1 January 2025: that’s the day the first Dutch pension funds will move to a defined contribution (DC) system according to the new Pension Act. So the clock is ticking for politicians who still hope to reverse the pension changes, or give members a say on the mandatory conversion of defined benefit (DB) accruals to DC capital, the most controversial part of the pension reform.
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Country ReportDutch pension reform opponents running out of time
Political parties struggle to reach agreement on what an alternative pensions system could look like
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FeaturesReluctance to drop interest rates disappoints the markets
US rates markets entered the year enthusiastically pricing in over 160 basis points of cuts through 2024, and have since had to push back hard on both the timing and magnitude of interest rate cuts now expected by year-end.
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Country ReportCan DC participants trust the competence of Dutch pension funds?
The authors of a recent paper find that pension boards in the Netherlands have failed to reduce asset-liability risk and advocate for greater accountability of boards, advisers and investment staff
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Opinion PiecesUS pension plans wrestle with China private market exposure
After a horrible 2023, Chinese stocks look cheap and attractive. But most US pension funds do not seem interested in investing in the Chinese stock market. On the contrary, they have reduced their holdings since 2020 and some are exiting entirely, according to Bloomberg analysis.
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Asset Class ReportsIs India’s equity market now the new China in investors’ eyes?
Better governance and a clear economic path may put India in the lead
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Opinion PiecesAn opportunity to reimagine private capital in Europe
Enrico Letta’s long-awaited report on the future of the European Union’s single market is set to spark a major debate among EU leaders. As Europe faces a rapidly evolving strategic landscape, the former Italian prime minister’s findings, due to be published this spring, could help shape thinking on European integration ahead of the upcoming elections in June.
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FeaturesAn inflection point for India bonds
The impending inclusion of Indian government bonds (IGBs) in JP Morgan’s widely tracked $240bn (€220bn) Govern ment Bond Index-Emerging Markets (GBI-EM) index is seen as a milestone. However, while some asset managers hope it is the beginning of a more open investment culture, others are more circumspect.
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Country ReportPFZW moves beyond oil and gas divestment
In a podcast recorded for IPE’s Dutch sister publication Pensioen Pro, Ravien Sewtahal of PFZW and Colin Tissen of the pension fund’s asset manager PGGM reflect on the Dutch healthcare scheme’s engagement programme with fossil fuel firms and PFZW’s next steps in climate engagement
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Opinion PiecesAustralia connects retirement income sources
Australia, a country with the world’s fourth-largest pool of retirement savings, is caught in a curious bind. At issue is how to transition Australians from saving to spending.
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Asset Class ReportsA changing Saudi Arabia proves attractive for investors
Equity market is starting to open to investors as the country liberalises strict rules
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InterviewsPension funds revisit allocations to China
European pension funds have reduced their allocations to China as the outlook for the country’s economy becomes more uncertain
