All articles by David White – Page 15
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Features
Facing up to hedge funds
The Netherlands has always been fertile soil for the growth of alternative asset classes. Dutch pension funds have a long tradition of private equity investment and are now among the leaders in Continental Europe their use of hedge funds. Industry leaders, like ABP and PGGM, have led the way. These ...
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Features
Building an index of indices
The chief obstacle to the institutionalisation of hedge funds is the absence of proper performance evaluation. This is conclusion of a recent report from Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, part of the Edhec Business School, based in Lille and Nice. The problem, the report says, is the lack ...
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Features
The big handover
This month’s Off the Record considers the issue of outsourcing. The trend of pension funds to outsource the management of their assets to external managers is already well established. Less common is the decision to outsource their mid and back office functions. The reason why a medium small or medium ...
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News
Italy puts money into Espero teachers’ fund
ITALY - The Italian government is to put up to around three million euros a month into the Espero educational pension scheme, the head of the scheme said.
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News
Ireland’s NPRF earns millions from stock lending
IRELAND - Ireland’s National Pension Reserve Fund earned more than four million euros from stock lending and brokerage commission recapture in 2003, according to the National Treasury Management Agency.
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News
IBM likely to use new Irish common fund
IRELAND - Computer giant IBM is likely to become one of the first multinational companies to use the common contractual fund (CCF), Ireland’s new tax transparent pooling vehicle, to pool its pension funds’ global equity assets.
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Features
Europe still a runner
After a strong and sustained recovery in Euro-zone equities that started last year, asset managers are now asking how long has the recovery yet to run. The answer will depend to some extent on valuations. Are Euro-zone stocks still fairly valued or has the recovery made them too expensive? Catherine ...
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Features
Protecting portfolios from downside
Portfolio insurance enables investors to limit downside risk while allowing some participation in upside markets. There are a large number of methods of portfolio insurance. The most widely used one is the CPPI (Constant Proportion Portfolio Insurance) developed in the 1980s. The CPPI method allocates assets dynamically over time. The ...
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Features
Counting their blessings
The appetite of the Belgian dentist, Belgium’s archetypal retail investor, for capital guaranteed and minimum return products is legendary. To satisfy this investor, investment products must provide protection from downside risk. Now the country’s institutional investors are developing the same sort of appetite. Part of the reason for this is ...
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Features
Currency alpha
Active currency management is providing alpha, according to a new study by Russell/Mellon CAPS. The study showed that 87% of currency overlay accounts generated positive excess returns over the past five years. The percentage was even higher in US$ accounts where 93% of accounts produced positive returns. The Russell/Mellon CAPS ...
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Features
'Add return - reduce risk'
Increasing accounting and regulatory pressures on UK pension funds will compel them to at least consider including currency management in their investment strategy, according to James Binny, director of FX analytics and risk advisory at ABN Amro. Pressure is likely to come from the new accounting standard, FRS 17 and ...
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News
FSA finds market timing evidence in UK investment schemes
The UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) has found evidence of market timing in UK authorised collective investment schemes.
