Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 32
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Asset Class Reports
Fixed income – Europe's investment-grade market makes a comeback
Investors are showing tentative signs of interest as spreads tighten
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Country Report
UK: Beware the unintended consequences of the DB funding code
Laura McLaren highlights the unintended consequences of TPR’s proposed code, and what can be done to mitigate the risks
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Asset Class Reports
Fixed income – Convertible bonds return to favour
After a long period in the wilderness, convertible bond issuance is coming back to life
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Country Report
UK: Is it too soon to reform pension pools?
In his March 2023 Budget, UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt challenged the Local Government Pension Schemes (LGPS) in England and Wales to “move further and faster on consolidating assets”, proposing that LGPS funds transfer all listed assets into their pools by March 2025.
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Country Report
UK: The case for pooling
Successful pooled schemes such as Border to Coast should be open to other clients because they are good at what they do
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Country Report
UK: DC investment won't be a panacea for tech and science
The UK government’s March Budget contained plans to boost investment in high-growth industries such as digital, life sciences and advanced manufacturing, so they can start, scale up and remain in the UK.
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Opinion Pieces
LDI lessons: be wary of future traps
After the global financial crisis of 2008-09, world leaders meeting at the Pittsburgh G20 summit mandated central clearing for derivatives. This was to allow for greater supervisory oversight and to mitigate against the unintended build-up of risks of the kind that almost toppled the financial system in the guise of over-the-counter credit default swaps.
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Opinion Pieces
Blame will not solve the issues raised by the LDI crisis
The chain of events that led to the UK’s liability-driven investment (LDI) crisis, a high-profile inquiry by the UK Parliament, and a time of anxiety and introspection in the country’s pension industry, started well before then prime minister Liz Truss’s government and its somewhat reckless ‘growth plan’.
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Features
Accounting: Connectivity between ISSB and IASB on accounting standards
If you think we all agreed on what connectivity is, you are probably wrong. At least that is what the International Accounting Standards Board’s vice-chair Linda Mezon-Hutter seemed to imply at a recent meeting of the IFRS Foundation’s Accounting Standards Advisory Forum (ASAF).
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Opinion Pieces
Australia: Caps, concessions and class war
The Australian Federal government recently moved to make a “modest” change to the nation’s superannuation system which, it says, will save A$2bn (€1.2bn) a year for its over-stretched budget.
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Opinion Pieces
US: Politics drive ESG debate
Three Republican candidates for the White House are vocal advocates against pension funds adopting environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment practices.
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Interviews
On the record: A new role for alternative investments for Veritas
The degree of diversification that alternative portfolios typically provide can be less than many institutions think. Veritas has reorganised its alternatives portfolio to deliver better diversification
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Interviews
Germany's VBL: A transformative journey
Michael Leinwand (pictured), CIO of Germany’s VBL, talks to Luigi Serenelli about the pension fund’s growth over the past years and about its evolving responsible investment strategy
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Country Report
UK: Schemes must prioritise members
Pension funds are encouraged to invest in UK illiquids, but it cannot come at any cost
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Interviews
LCH: The other side of the mirror
Isabelle Girolami undoubtedly has a strong background in financial services, having worked for a range of very different institutions in very different roles. She was COO at the fixed income division of BNP Paribas, before going on to a similar role at Bear Stearns, the bank that failed early in 2008 and which was subsumed into JP Morgan. Prior to her current role at LCH she was global head of markets at Crédit Agricole.
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Opinion Pieces
CDC: finally off the starting blocks
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) last month approved the Royal Mail Collective Pension Plan as the first registered collective defined contribution (CDC) scheme in the UK
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Opinion Pieces
Guest viewpoint: Pensions and the EU's plans on social protection
Elections for the European Parliament will be held in spring 2024, after which a new European Commission will be formed. Early preparation to collect new ideas is ongoing. The Commission’s high-level group on the future of social protection and of the welfare state published a report in February, taking a wide-angle look at social protection, including pensions.
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Features
Tackling the sustainability conundrum
With climate change and the loss of biodiversity seen as potential existential risks for humanity, it has become imperative to create and implement a sustainable form of capitalism
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Opinion Pieces
Alecta’s crisis management
It can certainly hurt a pension provider when investments go badly, but an organisation’s next steps in response to disastrous losses are vital.
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Features
IPE Quest Expectations Indicator May 2023
Russian air superiority over Ukraine is coming to an end due to lack of equipment. Destroying civilian targets is counterproductive and consumes ammunition. Bakhmut is eating into Russian resources, while Ukraine is being re-armed. History teaches that better technology, rather than numerical superiority, wins wars. But even a lopsided Ukrainian win would not automatically mean peace.