All Investment Briefing articles – Page 3
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FeaturesUS dollar strength and the issues facing institutional investors
Most central banks across the world are raising interest rates – some more aggressively than others – but it is proving hard for any of them to out-hike the US Federal Reserve. The resulting widening interest rate differentials have been an important factor in the appreciation of the US currency.
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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.
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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.
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FeaturesMarket overview: German institutional investors manage uncertainty
At mid-year 2022, the volume of Spezialfonds – the German vehicle for professional investors – administered on Universal Investment’s platform was €498bn, a rise of around 5% year on year. On a six-month basis, however, and compared with the end of the booming stock year 2021, asset volumes were down around 3%.
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FeaturesPension funds continue their focus on ESG social issues
Before the year is over, European policymakers are expected to announce their decision to shelve plans for a social taxonomy.
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FeaturesEuro peripheral spreads
Just over a decade ago, Mario Draghi, then President of the ECB, gave a speech in which he uttered the famous words: “.…the European Central Bank [ECB] is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro”, a phrase often credited with hauling Europe out of the depths of its sovereign debt crisis.
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FeaturesCommodities show their value
The few pension schemes with an investment in commodities benefitted from this allocation in recent months. Prices in this asset class rose as the pandemic and war in Ukraine pushed up the cost of fossil fuels and re-ignited inflation while both equity and bond markets faltered.
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FeaturesA flawed EU crypto regulatory framework
The EU will soon have a specific regulatory framework for crypto currencies and markets. Under proposals soon to be adopted, only crypto coins authorised in the EU will be allowed to be offered to investors. But crypto assets and exchanges will have a very light supervisory regime, much less than what is in place for financial instruments and exchanges. This raises the question about the rationale for distinct rules. This question is even more acute in the context of the big decline in the crypto markets over the past weeks.
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Features‘Painful’ private equity fees are hard to avoid
The Netherlands’ €551bn ($576bn) civil service scheme ABP paid a record €2.8bn in performance fees to private equity managers in 2021, prompting the fund’s president Harmen van Wijnen to announce an external investigation to assess ABP’s rising asset management costs. The €277.5bn healthcare scheme PFZW paid €1.26bn in performance fees to private equity last year, accounting for two thirds of total asset management costs.
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FeaturesCustodians will be key as investors move into digital assets
Digital assets may seem to be the latest investment trend, but institutions are taking their time in embracing them. Moving interest to the next level will require not only greater regulation but also a solid network of custodians to provide the required security and protection.
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FeaturesAsset owners need to find the best stock pickers
For pension funds, an asset manager search is a high-stakes exercise. Get it wrong and the scheme could be saddled with an underperforming manager for an extended period of time, dragging down returns and potentially impacting member outcomes.
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FeaturesYen’s swift dive surprises market
For several decades, the Japanese yen has not been in the limelight too often. However, earlier this year it became headline news as the currency began to depreciate rapidly against the US dollar. Although investors were not overly surprised that the yen would weaken, the speed of its decline was certainly startling. Over the course of about 15 months, between the start of 2021 to early April 2022, the yen has lost about 25% of its value against the dollar, with nearly half the move occurring in that final month.
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FeaturesUK venture: new kids on the block
Google the venture firm 2150 and you won’t find an investment strategy but a manifesto.
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FeaturesEmissions reporting: taking stock of indirect emissions in Scope 3
Disclosure proposals by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in March could guide the regulatory searchlight beyond companies’ direct and indirect C02 emissions (Scope 1 and 2) and towards upstream and downstream (Scope 3) emissions.
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FeaturesInvestors sceptical on Tokyo equity market reforms
In April, the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) implemented its biggest overhaul in over 60 years in an attempt to attract foreign investors. However, many industry experts see the move as largely symbolic and believe more needs to be done to create a roster of high-quality companies with strong corporate governance practices.
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Features
The case for an EU consolidated tape
Liquidity. Equality. Fragility. With apologies to the French Republic, these three words almost act as a lodestone in discussions about a consolidated tape (CT) for EU securities. The need for such a tape is becoming more apparent than ever, but it could still be three years or so before it become a reality, according to Susan Yavari, regulatory policy adviser at the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) and the author of a detailed official position paper on the subject published in mid-February.
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FeaturesUkraine & Russia: Asset allocation and investing in a time of war
It is a well-known fact that geopolitical events have no lasting impact on financial markets. However, Russian president Vladimir Putin’s decision to wage war on Ukraine has forced institutional investors to reassess their strategies. While stock market indices tend to recover fairly soon after the initial shock of a geopolitical event, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has potentially wide-ranging consequences beyond a sudden spike in volatility.
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FeaturesBriefing: High yield off to a rough start to the year
High yield did not have a good start to the year. Rising inflation and a more hawkish central bank tone in the US and UK triggered panic selling in January. However, as the dust settles and bad news is priced in, the asset class looks more appealing than other fixed-income segments. Easy pickings may be gone, though, and opportunities will have to be selected carefully.
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FeaturesBriefing: Now is not the time to give up on emerging markets
“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!” This classic Al Pacino line has applied to many emerging market investors in recent years. Like Michael Corleone, drawn by the potential offered by bold business opportunities, they have accepted to take higher levels of risks in a quest to obtain better results. However, similarly to the family at the heart of The Godfather saga, the outcome of such bets has often caused a lot of pain.
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FeaturesBriefing - Private equity: the case for transparency
A recent paper published by US-based academic Ashby Monk and others arguably says it all in its title – *An Economic Case for Transparency in Private Equity*.
