Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 254
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Interviews
On the Record: Do you invest in long-term, illiquid assets?
Matching long-term cash flow to liabilities
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FeaturesInterview: Yngve Slyngstad, NBIM, Master of the universe
Yngve Slyngstad is one of the most influential asset owners in the world. As chief executive of Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), he oversees the day-to-day affairs of the Government Pension Fund Global, the sovereign wealth fund that claims ownership of 1% of all equities worldwide – and 2.5% of those listed on European exchanges.
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Country Report
Pensions in Switzerland: Changes on the horizon
Risk-based strategies are gaining momentum among Swiss pension funds, Carlo Svaluto Moreolo finds
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Features
Vive la répartition
While she might have abolished peculiarities such as yellow car headlights and the old-style caps of the gendarmerie, France’s pension system, based on répartition (redistribution), remains as distinct as ever.
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Features
I need a dollar
Risk assets had a terrible time early in October. What was all the fuss about? Soft US retail sales data? Hardly. The geopolitical background? Unlikely. Weak numbers out of Germany and a lack of faith in the ECB? Jitteriness at the prospect of the Fed packing up QE? Quite possibly.
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Opinion Pieces
Every lesson helps
Here are 12 things arising from the Tesco accounting debacle that pension funds could deploy which would help prevent, or at least mitigate, similar implosions.
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Features
Interview, Gabriel Bernardino: We are listening
Gabriel Bernadino, chairman of EIOPA, tells Taha Lokhandwala why his organisation wants stakeholders to challenge the ideas in its consultation on regulatory frameworks
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Opinion Pieces
Guest Viewpoint: “Asset owners and managers need to address the problems in the investment industry and focus on value for the ultimate beneficiaries”
We need to move on from today’s investment world, which essentially has been built by intermediaries for intermediaries. Their purposes have become too narrow and too self-centred to be of sustainable value to asset owners, who are charged with transporting and growing savings across time – affordably, securely and fairly.
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Interviews
On The Record: CERN Pension Fund Switzerland, Théodore Economou, CEO
As an investor, I focus on managing risk as well as return. Going forward, simply beating the index will no longer be enough, and that is why they will have to focus on risk-management in portfolio construction. At the same time, I believe it is important to look at the long-term cycle, as there is value added in identifying long-term risks and trends.
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Interviews
On The Record: Publica, Switzerland Stefan Beiner Head of asset management and deputy CEO
The major concern remains the low interest rate environment. We do not believe rates will increase as fast as in other cycles. The valuation on fixed income in general is rich, and equities are also valued on the high side, depending on the region. It is really difficult to hide right now. I am not that optimistic for the mid-term future, and therefore our internal expected returns are quite low for the next three years.
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Features
Briefing: The force of member power
IPE’s October Focus Group poll looked at the issue of engagement with members’ views. This month, we take the debate further by asking leading opinion formers how they see the issue of member power versus pension boards’ investment discretion.
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Features
Briefing: Pensions Accounting, Back to basics
The International Accounting Standards Board has revealed plans to issue a due process document on the future of pensions accounting. Stephen Bouvier asks where this might lead
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FeaturesHow we run our money: Hans de Ruiter, CIO of Pensioenfonds TNO
Having rationalised the fund’s portfolio, Hans de Ruiter, CIO of Pensioenfonds TNO tells Carlo Svaluto Moreolo about his fund’s positive attitude towards private equity and why he sees alternative credit as a first line of defence against challenging markets
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Country Report
Pensions in Switzerland: Cost wary could lose out
All sides agree that the new cost transparency regulation is a great success. But the federal government has more ideas up its sleeve, finds Barbara Ottawa
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Country Report
Cost transparency: What Switzerland can learn from the Netherlands
The discussion on asset management costs is not limited to Switzerland. In the Netherlands, similar regulatory requirements have been in place for a couple of years, transparency is completely accepted now, and the discussion has moved to cost levels.
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Country Report
How Swiss funds have achieved transparency
As part of the structural reform, §48a fig. 3 of the BVV law governing Pensionskassen investments was put in place to raise transparency in the reporting of asset management costs in the second pillar.
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Country Report
Pensions in Switzerland: Drawing a line under supervision
Switzerland’s top supervisor wants to move towards a more pre-emptive approach based on risk parameters but the pension fund community is sceptical, according to Barbara Ottawa
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Country Report
Pensions in Switzerland: What can I expect from my pension fund?
For any pension scheme, the purpose of investing is to fund future benefits. A pension fund can offset investment risks in two different ways – either by taking advantage of existing risk capital (reserves), or by adjusting future contributions and benefits.
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Country Report
Pensions in Switzerland: Tectonic plates
The business models of Swiss private banks have been under pressure, leading many to target institutional business, as Carlo Svaluto Moreolo finds
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Special Report
Special Report – Outlook 2015: Political & Geopolitical Risk
It’s 2014, and geopolitical risk is back. It’s not as if nothing happened since the Berlin Wall came down, but the sudden confluence of a US government shutdown, Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the march of Islamic State and the polling successes of anti-EU parties, not to mention the threatened break-up of the UK, has concentrated minds. Citigroup research confirms there have indeed been more frequent elections and public protests since 2011 than in the preceding decade.
