All Investment Briefing articles – Page 7
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FeaturesGerman Spezialfonds show modest asset growth
Germany’s Spezialfonds market showed modest positive growth in 2018 in the face of challenging market conditions, with total assets approaching €1.5trn.
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Features
Briefing: Give credit to CDS indices
DB pension funds could benefit from synthetic credit exposures provided by credit default swap indices
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FeaturesBriefing: The cliff-hanger of European banks
It has been a bad decade for European financials, with share prices still a fraction of their pre-crisis highs
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FeaturesBriefing: Sri Lanka after the bombings
The tragic Easter Sunday bombings have devastated tourism, a key plank of the economy
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FeaturesIPOs: Unicorn hunting
“Public interest in IPOs hasn’t been this high since the dot-com era of the late 1990s,” say analysts at UBS. Such popularity is stoking fears of a bubble in unicorns – privately-financed start-ups valued at over $1bn (€900m) taking listings.
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FeaturesLiquidity: Bad timing
Pension funds lose billions annually in badly timed trades in the capital markets
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Features
Briefing: Guidance for valuation of ILS
Valuation has always been an important, albeit thorny, component in assessing insurance-linked securities (ILS) but the higher-than-expected losses in 2017 and 2018 made the number crunching even trickier. The recently published set of guidelines from the Standard Board of Alternative Investments (SBAI) is designed to improve the process but investors should always be aware of the risks attached to this asset class.
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FeaturesBriefing: It is all downhill from here
Six months ago, markets were rediscovering volatility, sentiment was wavering and there were growing fears that we had reached the end of a decade-long bull market for most assets. There were several reasons, such as worries over indicators, global trade tensions and the sustainability of corporate earnings growth, but one of the key ones was the relentless raising of interest rates by the US Federal Reserve.
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FeaturesBriefing: Shining a light on active ETFs
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have grown into a $5trn (€4.4trn) global industry by focusing on a few key selling points – low costs, liquidity, easy diversification and transparency.
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FeaturesChina: To be or not to be
Investors are divided on whether to classify Chinese equities as a distinct asset class
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FeaturesBecoming a mortgage lender
More pension funds are eyeing residential mortgages as an asset class
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FeaturesBriefing: Emerging markets fail to catch up
Emerging markets have failed to increase their share of global investible market capitalisation since 2007
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FeaturesBriefing: Looking to active managers
Active management versus passive index tracking remains one of the most hotly contested questions in the world of investment management.
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Features
Buyouts: Philip Green’s M&S venture
Philip Green, a British retail billionaire, is perhaps best-known for the controversy surrounding the pensions deficit of his defunct BHS high street chain
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FeaturesMacro matters: Brexit’s challenge for Europe
It is human nature to reduce the complexity of reality to simple rules, simple foci and simple decision points. In this, Brexit is no different
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FeaturesChina tech: Playing BATs versus FAANGs
Chinese tech firms offer exposure to rapidly expanding domestic markets
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FeaturesUS economy: Overpricing recession risk
Financial markets have suffered a nasty bout of indigestion since October. The interplay of sentiment and volatility induced widespread pessimism, with added concern that market tantrums could subsequently bleed into the real economy
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FeaturesCLO supply outstrips demand
Do reports of a growing wariness over collateralised loan obligations (CLOs) mean that the good times are over for the investment vehicle?
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FeaturesBriefing: Collateral challenges
Rising interest rates put collateral management strategies to the test
