All articles by Liam Kennedy – Page 7
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Opinion PiecesEquities to the fore as an inflation hedge
At a time when institutions can deploy billions swiftly at the touch of a few buttons, there is increasing focus on deploying capital well. A notable buzzword of late has been ‘resilience’ as pension funds look to downside risks.
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Opinion PiecesCapital will drive best practice in reporting
The European Commission’s review of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD), scheduled for publication shortly, comes at a time of increased scrutiny of both corporates and those who supply them with debt and equity.
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FeaturesStrategically Speaking: Capstone Investment Advisors
Last spring’s exceptional market volatility proved the mettle of at least one set of strategies – volatility-focused hedge funds. The CBOE Eurekahedge Tail Risk Hedge Fund index returned a bumper 51.64% in the first three months of 2020 alone against a broad hedge fund market index return of -7.96%, and was up 34.8% for the year.
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Special ReportOn the record: The path to recovery
Six major pension investors chart the risks and opportunities ahead as the world moves into a recovery phase
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Opinion PiecesInfra must adapt to meet pension goals
Looked at collectively, or even individually, the cashflow needs of Europe’s defined benefit (DB) and hybrid pension schemes are huge and potentially challenging given the scale of income generating assets needed to help service them.
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Opinion PiecesSocial purpose: the new dimension
Investors’ attention turned to human capital issues in 2020 as COVID-19 took hold – including the treatment of staff and other stakeholders, as well as dividend policy and executive pay in cases where companies have received taxpayer support.upport.
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FeaturesStrategically Speaking: Hendrik Bartel, TruValue Labs
What makes ESG data providers stand out? For TruValue Labs, the answer is to apply AI and machine learning to thousands of unstructured data sources to enhance ESG investment processes
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InterviewsExit Interview: Peter Borgdorff - “I wasn’t the specialist… and I think that was my advantage”
Polder in the Netherlands is the low-lying land reclaimed from the sea. By extension, it also refers to the highly developed social contract system between politics, business and labour.
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News
IPE Conference Day 2: ESG asset allocation, responsible investing, corporate purpose
Timothée Jaulin (Amundi), Matthew Edwards (Willis Towers Watson), Alex Edmans (London Business School), and Fiona Stewart (World Bank) among other speakers
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News
IPE Conference Day 1: Global political risk, sustainability and resilient portfolios
Tina Fordham (Avonhurst), Elizabeth Corley (Impact Investing Institute), Amin Rajan (CREATE-Research), and Marg Franklin (CFA) among other speakers
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Opinion PiecesResilience: how investors can secure it
Back in March 2020 as the extent of the coronavirus in western Europe was becoming clear, Risto Murto, president and CEO of the €49bn Finnish pension insurer Varma, called for the creation of “healthcare buffers” to mitigate the effects of future pandemics.
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FeaturesUS endowments: Success breeds success
Perhaps no single group of institutional investors elicits as much fascination and admiration as US university endowments – in particular those of the Ivy League, and among that elite group the Yale and Harvard endowments in particular.
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News
Natixis completes Ostrum restructuring in JV with La Banque Postale
Ostrum will be looking to boost ESG integration within its corporate fixed income team of around 20 analysts
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Opinion PiecesThe looming trust deficit
Once again, European pension systems – notably those of the Netherlands and Denmark – have scored most highly in this year’s Mercer CFA Pension Index. These successes are no accident, and among the key ingredients is years of pragmatic and consensual policy making.
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Special ReportNot another framework….
Inconsistencies in ESG reporting between corporates and across sectors are widely known. This patchwork quilt of reporting mirrors the array of frameworks and standards for corporate sustainability reporting.
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Opinion PiecesNasty problems can be overcome
The Nobel laureate Bill Sharpe once called defined contribution (DC) decumulation the “nastiest, hardest problem in finance”.
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InterviewsStrategically Speaking: Insight Investment
Insight Investment’s asset management roots are in the structural shift over the past two decades to closed-book defined benefit (DB) pensions in the UK and elsewhere.
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Country ReportNetherlands: View from the top
Gerard van Olphen, chair of the executive board at APG, discussed the agreement with Liam Kennedy at IPE’s Summer Pension Congress
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Opinion PiecesA long sunset on a fragile model
The ECB’s move in September 2019 to lower rates and restart corporate bond purchases was a clear red warning signal to defined benefit pension funds and other liability-driven investors.
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InterviewsStrategically speaking: Saker Nusseibeh, Federated Hermes
At first sight, the two sides of Federated Hermes seem culturally distinct. Federated is a staid, family-controlled, and Pittsburgh-based money manager with a history of providing services to bank trust departments. Hardly a hotbed of ESG or shareholder engagement, you might think.
