Asset Allocation – Page 162
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Features
S&P casts doubt over rule changes
Proposed changes to the rules governing Belgian SICAFIs - a local version of REITs - will increase risk and damage corporate ratings, according to Standard & Poor’s. “Loosening restrictions on gearing will increase financial risk,” said Andreas Kindahl, a credit analyst with S&P. The new rules would increase the maximum ...
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Features
Shopping for shorts
Has the time come to let managers go long and short? Alastair Sayer looks at the pros and cons
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Features
Full head of steam for asset managers
With pension funds willing to consider new approaches, the asset managers are experiencing heady times. George Coats assesses the fast moving scene
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Holland vies with Ireland and Luxembourg
The Netherlands has taken a leaf out of Ireland and Luxembourg’s book in its plans to be regarded as the destination of choice for tax transparent pooled funds, Kerry Ann White argues
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Knowing what lies behind hedge funds
Dutch pension funds’ growing interest in alternatives like hedge funds is having an impact on the middle and back offices of securities services providers, says Heather Mackenzie
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Features
Who'd buy a bond from a pension fund?
Shayla Walmsley assesses the worthiness of pension fund bond issues on the back of the recent Wellcome launch
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Boutique staying true to its roots
Peter Wilby chose Stone Harbor, a beach town on the east coast of the US, as a location to negotiate a deal to spin off a team of some 65 professionals including 27 investment specialists from the entity created by Legg Mason’s acquisition of Citigroup Asset Management last year. The ...
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Features
How DB schemes lost their sheen
Unless DB schemes become more affordable, they may be completely absent from the market in a few years time, writes Paul McGlone
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Features
What is driving the marketplace?
The asset backed market is set to grow and overtake corporate bonds in Europe. Joseph Mariathasan reckons this is just one of the changes facing active bond managers
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Features
A noise about silence
The much delayed reform of the pension system is finally due to be implemented at the beginning of 2008. Not a moment too soon. While the date has slipped continuously over the years the urgency for reform grows in sympathy, as the fortunes of the new generation of pension funds ...
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Features
ABP eyes non-listed sector amid short-termism
Europe’s largest pension fund, the Dutch civil service giant ABP, is planning to shift the accent of its investments to non-listed companies and real estate, says chief investment officer Roderick Munsters. The main reasons are the increasing short-term thinking within the listed sector, and the growing pressure of corporate governance ...
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Features
Address the fundamentals
If you ask the question why invest in emerging market equities, the answer is pretty straightforward: emerging market economies are going to be a much more significant part of the global economy in the future and growth rates are generally higher than developed countries. Jim O’Neil at Goldman Sachs estimates ...
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Features
Marè’s advice: hold your course
Italy is on the brink of dramatic changes to its pension fund market. Either the Maroni reform goes on and pension funds grow strongly, or the industry will face a new paralysis that will be detrimental to future retirees. A third way, which is going back to a very generous ...
