All Features articles – Page 9
-
FeaturesFixed income, rates & currency: Recessions - but when?
With the fourth consecutive 75bps hike in rates delivered in November, US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell suggested that the pace of the hikes might be slowed in the coming months (so slightly dovish), but then said that the terminal rate and how long it would be held was more important than the speed of tightening (back to hawkish). The initial dollar sell-off was unwound by the end of the press conference.
-
FeaturesSustainable tourism: consumers need direction
The end of COVID lockdowns in most places has led to a boom in tourism in 2022 and a return to normality that should persist. Before the COVID pandemic, tourism accounted for around 10% of global GDP and 8% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to speakers at the Reset Sustainably conference on sustainable tourism held in London in September. The size of the industry means that moving towards more sustainable development can have a significant, positive impact on the world, both in terms of climate change and in the protection of natural resources, including biodiversity.
-
FeaturesEuropean pension dashboard in the starting blocks
The European Tracking Service for pensions has been years in the making but is now set for a rollout, to be completed by 2027
-
FeaturesHow SFDR became the impact benchmark star
Impact is often defined by intentionality and additionality.
-
FeaturesAhead of the curve: Recalibrating alternative allocations for a new market
Geopolitics, inflation, and central bank policy have agitated financial markets in 2022, leaving returns and diversification in short supply. A comparison of global equities and bonds provides a sense of just how challenging the results have been.
-
FeaturesAccounting: IASB risks annoying stakeholders
If nothing else, the appointment of Linda Mezon-Hutter to the International Accounting Standards Board promises to bring a much-needed breath of fresh air and dose of reality to the standard-setter’s sleepy proceedings.
-
FeaturesIPE Quest Expectations Indicator: December 2022
The Ukrainian offensives look to have petered out and a new initiative will be needed to maintain morale. The US government is once again gridlocked and another debt ceiling fight is likely. The EU seems ready even for a harsh winter, but there are signs of war fatigue. In the UK, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has apparently learned from the Liz Truss debacle, quickly making the necessary political U-turns, in particular on climate change. Expectations for the COP27 meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh were low. Analyst views indicate increasing belief that the wave of interest rate increases is receding.
-
FeaturesQontigo Riskwatch - December 2022
*Data as of 31 October 2022. Forecast risk estimate for each index measured by the respective US, World and Emerging Markets Qontigo model variants
-
-
FeaturesPension funds on the record: how they manage LDI
Pension funds reflect on the role of LDI in their portfolios and the risks associated with an unlikely, but not impossible, sudden rise in interest rates
-
FeaturesUK LDI woes raise wider European questions
Turmoil in UK Gilt markets has forced continental European pension industries to review their risk management strategies
-
FeaturesSingle versus double materiality: ISSB faces inconvenient truths
Climate change denial has been a tough ask this summer. Forest fires raged across Europe, part of a London suburb caught light, and hurricane-force winds left a trail of destruction in southern Austria. The doom loop was complete when falling river levels left France’s nuclear power plants battling to produce enough energy to meet the demand for cooling.
-
FeaturesDistributed work: a novel solution for displaced workers
What COVID has taught the world so dramatically is that knowledge-based companies have been able to function effectively with all their employees working remotely. Location suddenly no longer matters, and many employees have taken advantage of lockdowns to cross borders and work in places they wanted to be in, whether holiday resorts or with family.
-
FeaturesFixed income, rates & currency: The return of extreme volatility
The emergency measures swiftly enacted by policymakers and central banks in March 2020, as we locked our communities, schools and businesses down, unsurprisingly created huge volatility in financial markets.
-
FeaturesUK sovereign debt in turbulent waters as challenges remain
The buttoned-up Gilts market has never seen or done anything like it. Trusty stalwart of liability matching for defined benefit (DB) pension schemes, the blue-chip security has already poleaxed a British chancellor of the exchequer just a month in office, and has effectively done the same to prime minister Liz Truss.
-
FeaturesThe rising influence of target-date funds on capital markets
One of the fastest growing markets in recent years is the US retirement market. Since 1995, the investment volume has increased six-fold, so that by the end of 2021, the market stood for almost $40trn (€40.1trn) AUM.
-
FeaturesThe dynamic feature of SFDR: ‘walking the walk’ benchmarks
Forward-looking information is in high demand among those aiming to invest sustainably. Forward-looking planning of one’s decarbonisation does not mean actually moving forward at the envisioned pace though, unless the penalties for trailing pace are in place and sufficiently painful.
-
FeaturesAhead of the curve: Beefing up guardrails as risks rise in private credit
For US and European private credit firms, storm clouds are gathering.The recent rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England (BoE)have numbed activity in the leveraged loan and high-yield spaces.
-
FeaturesQontigo Riskwatch - November 2022
*Data as of 30 September 2022. Forecast risk estimate for each index measured by the respective US, World and Emerging Markets Qontigo model variants
-
Features
IPE Quest Expectations Indicator - November 2022
In general, political risk remained the same, except in the UK. The Russian offensive against Ukrainian civil infrastructure is useless. If it should succeed, Russia has no means to exploit it militarily. Ukraine is set to recover Kherson. In the EU, France is trying to cope with a vicious strike that blocks petrol deliveries, but its side effect is a push towards hybrid and non-petrol cars. Japan is worried over implicit North Korean nuclear threats. In the UK political risk has increased fast with a crisis caused by government tax plans that has sapped trust on several levels. The data indicate that analysts believe that the wave of interest rate increases is near (if not over) its top and that bonds are now becoming more attractive than equities for the first time in many years.
