All articles by Liam Kennedy – Page 16
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Special Report
Special Report ESG: Carbon Risk, How the low-tracking-error green index strategy works
As pioneered by the Swedish pension buffer fund AP4, low-tracking-error green indices work on a remarkably simple principle: weighting the stocks in each sector by carbon intensity (CO2 per unit of sales) and removing the most carbon-intense companies and exposure to stranded asset risk in intensity based on market cap.
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Country Report
When the trend is not your friend
The convergence between asset management and consultancy was a topic for discussion at a conference on fiduciary management organised by the German Federation of Financial Analysts and Asset Management (DVFA) in Frankfurt last November.
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Features
Frozen conflict
Since a 1964 report on road pricing in the UK, authored by one RJ Smeed, the idea of charging citizens for use of public highways has been repeatedly raised in Britain.
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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
A-shares on the rise
There are signs that European institutional investors find Chinese equities interesting. Finland’s Ilmarinen now separates China equity holdings (A and H-shares), in its reports, and Denmark’s AP Pension has boosted its China equity exposure to 5%, although it has excluded domestic property and banks.
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Features
The ‘what’ and ‘why’ of costs
Controversies around pension funds’ asset management costs in various countries tell us something about the mood of the times, but they also suggest that changes are needed in the way pension boards select and justify their strategy choices to members and the wider world.
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Interviews
Three years of the 300
Liam Kennedy spoke to Alan Brown and Saker Nusseibeh, two architects of the 300 Club of investment professionals who seek to challenge mainstream investment practice
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Features
Collective lessons from professionals
Experience shows that the benefits of intergenerational solidarity and collective pension risk sharing are often not appreciated, particularly by those who feel they are shouldering a greater share of the burden than they ought.
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Features
Time for trusteeship
Senior staff at China Investment Corporation (CIC) are talking about investment governance these days, reflecting growing recognition of the importance of sound non-executive or supervisory board oversight for all kinds of entities, be they global companies, sovereign wealth entities or pension funds.
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Special Report
Pension Fund Governance: Board effectiveness: From path dependency to integrative thinking
“One of the curses of our industry is path dependency,” says Keith Ambachtsheer, director emeritus of Toronto’s Rotman International Centre for Pension Management (ICPM) and academic director of the Rotman’s Board Effectiveness Programme (BEP) for pension funds.
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News
Dutch government announces new financial assessment framework
No heavy lifting in terms of reforms; funds have more time for implementation
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Features
High frequency problems
High frequency trading (HFT) has scuttled into the limelight this year since the publication of Flash Boys, Michael Lewis’ recent book on the subject. While most people agree that faster, smarter trading is generally good, and that rigged markets are an entirely bad thing, there is by no means agreement where HFT fits in.
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Special ReportTop 400: Global assets up 8.9% in 2013
M&A has featured highly in asset management in recent years. Until now, this has largely been dictated by external circumstances, such as bank parent companies seeking to increase capital adequacy or to abide by competition regulations.
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Special Report
Credit: A third way
Liam Kennedy outlines how Natixis, in partnership with insurers Ageas and CNP Assurance, has created an alternative to direct infrastructure lending and investment through funds
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Features
Growing pensions China style
China launched a massive stimulus pro- gramme in 2008 in its bid to fend off the ravages of the global downturn. While that largely succeeded, there are now long-standing fears of an asset bubble, particularly in property. Growth is predicted to slow this year to its lowest rate since 1990. The country is in the midst of an anti-corruption drive, which is hitting sales of luxury goods, and air quality is still awful.
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Interviews
Cautious, Swiss and international
As an institutional manager and provider of institutional-type investment management services to private banks, including within its own group, Pictet Asset Management (PAM) clearly stands apart from the private banking fraternity.
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Features
Beyond the glib view
Credit rating agencies did not cover them- selves in glory in the financial crisis, particularly when it came to the rating of sub-prime credit instruments. While the main ones have taken steps to put their house in order, the EU has targeted the perceived mechanistic over-reliance of institutions on external ratings.
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Country Report
The Netherlands: ‘Our first duty is pensions’
Peter Borgdorff tells Liam Kennedy about PFZW’s new contract with PGGM and its unstinting focus on costs
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Special Report
Europe’s Pension Consultants: Shifting plates
Liam Kennedy questions Chris Ford about ideas, advice and implementation in a changing consulting industry
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Features
Be honest about the cost
Flood protection is generally reckoned to be a sound investment, given the relatively small outlay compared with the high cost to life and property when water inundates homes, shops and factories. When the British Isles were pounded by the severest storms in living memory in February, attention naturally focused on whether budget constraints had jeopardised flood protection, and whether greater expenditure would be needed to secure communities and prevent future floods.
