All articles by Liam Kennedy – Page 5
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Country ReportCountry Report – Pensions in The Netherlands (March 2022)
The nominal treatment of liabilities in the Netherlands’ FTK pension regulatory framework means schemes don’t need to explicitly hedge inflation. But Dutch inflation came in at one of the highest rates in the euro-zone in January, and there has been strong criticism in the last decade about pension indexation cuts.
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Special ReportSpecial Report – Pan-European Personal Pensions
From March, the European Commission’s vision of a simple, cross-border savings product becomes a reality with the launch of the Pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP). EU citizens will for the first time be able to channel savings into a long-term third-pillar product that is cost effective, simple and portable across borders.
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Opinion PiecesPEPP could be a slow-burn success if big asset managers help
When early pan-European pension concepts took shape, spearheaded by the late Koen de Ryck of Pragma Consulting and his groundbreaking 1996 report, there was a vision that cross-border pension provision by the likes of Unilever and Shell would provide a European model for DB pensions that would boost labour mobility, take workplace retirement provision to under-served markets and set standards for the future.
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Country ReportCountry Report – Pensions in Ireland (February 2022)
Ireland’s new trustee code is bedding in following its publication last autumn. The code aligns Ireland with IORP II, with rules on governance, administration, controls, DB management and ‘fit and proper’ requirements.
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Special ReportSpecial Report – Sustainability & reporting
Increasing levels of ESG investing require greater transparency across the value chain, not least from companies. Enter the International Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, which will take shape this year and which is currently recruiting 11 inaugural board members.
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Asset Class ReportsPortfolio Strategy – Fixed income report
As the earnings season gets under way in early January, we look at 2021’s bumper level of bank debt issuance, in particular from Bank of America, JP Morgan and Citigroup, which have all recorded big increases in deposits. Banks look set to benefit from rising rates this year, but also from their historically large capital buffers, diverse funding levels and central bank liquidity backstops and offer attractive valuations.
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Opinion PiecesLacklustre pensions in an innovative CEE region
Capital funded pension systems across the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries have suffered from poor policy decisions over the years. These have included suspensions or reductions to contributions and even transfers of assets from individual accounts to the state.
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Country ReportCountry Report – Pensions in Central & Eastern Europe (January 2022)
A combination of poor policy decisions and conservative asset allocations have conspired to stifle the development of supplementary pensions in the CEE region since the widespread adoption of the World Bank’s three-pillar model in the 1990s, as IPE Editor Liam Kennedy writes in this issue.
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FeaturesStrategically speaking: IFM Investors
When IFM Investors and its fellow consortium members cracked open the bubbly last month on their successful bid for Sydney Airport following a third revised offer, it marked a bet on a vigorous and sustained recovery in passenger aviation. After all, airports globally, including Sydney, had come to resemble “parking lots for planes”, in the words of IFM Investors CEO David Neal.
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Opinion PiecesGetting ahead of the skill curve
Twenty years ago, in December 2001, Denmark’s giant labour market pension fund ATP implemented an interest-rate swap. That doesn’t seem too shocking now as liability-driven investment (LDI) is a mature and well-understood concept that is embedded in pension risk-management and regulatory practice.
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Special ReportSpecial Report – Prospects 2022 for European Institutional Investors
It’s all about inflation, stupid! Well, yes and no. While inflation is one of the top concerns raised by contributors to our vox-pop section on the economic outlook, growth and interest rates feature highly too. On the topic of inflation, EFG Bank’s Stefan Gerlach outlines why inventors should look at the underlying components of headline inflation numbers. We also look at the NextGenerationEU bond issuance programme, and the implications on the bond market. And energy specialist Cyril Widdershoven outlines the case for oil and gas as a transition play.
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News
Biodiversity on the agenda: thoughts from COP26
‘If we don’t solve the problems of tropical rainforests we lose the fight against climate change’
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InterviewsStrategically speaking: Finreon
Established 12 years ago as a spin-off from Switzerland’s renowned University of St Gallen, Finreon is a quant asset management specialist that styles itself as an investment adviser and a think tank. It has recently weighed into the debate on portfolio decarbonisation with a novel solution for listed equities.
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Special ReportMoney and commitment needed
The term ‘net zero’ is becoming entrenched in political and business life as governments, banks, insurers, asset owners and, not least, corporates sign up to demanding pledges to reduce carbon emissions in the service of limiting global temperature rises to within 1.5°C.
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Opinion PiecesEngagement, divestment and emerging alternatives
Investment analysts make contrasting buy and sell recommendations for individual securities based on identical financial information – down to the last decimal point. The differential is judgement.
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Special ReportBT Pension Scheme: Ambitious 2035 net-zero target
The pension scheme has set itself a series of tough climate objectives
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News
Iceland’s central bank governor backs greater foreign investment
Move could see €6.5bn shift to foreign managers
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Special ReportInvesting in China
Investors the world over are thinking about China, from Soros to Mr and Ms Main Street. Our contribution to this theme (written before the Evergrande story broke) looks at both private and public equity, where managers are looking to align portfolios with China’s long-term investment needs. From a manager selection perspective, boots plus portfolio managers on the ground were an essential ingredient for successful portfolio positioning ahead of the July regulatory crackdown.
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FeaturesStrategically Speaking: Aviva Investors
Insurance-owned asset managers can be difficult to pigeonhole. Some have forged strong specialisms, often in fixed income, but now also in alternatives like property or niche credit. Others have remained a corporate backwater absorbed by group general-account assets.
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Opinion PiecesAn alternative pensions future
It’s no real news that ageing is changing our society in numerous ways – from simple things like product design (making smart phones for older eyes and fingers to use) to more generationally diverse workplaces.
