All articles by Maha Khan Phillips – Page 2
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Features
No great rush to go pan-European
Cross-border pension funds are closer to becoming a workable option as jurisdictions create new vehicles and legislators lower tax and regulatory hurdles. But, as Maha Khan Phillips reports, it might take some time
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Features
Counting the costs of extension
Short extension means cost extension. With 130/30 products costing more than their long-only counterparts, managers need to justify their figures. Maha Khan Philips reports
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Features
A listless market?
Institutional investors are flocking to the non-listed, offshore real estate fund market, attracted by flexibility and tax advantages. For many though, there are not enough opportunities. Maha Khan Phillips reports
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Features
Why cross border road is still rocky
The introduction of the IORP directive was supposed to bring multi-national companies one step closer to establishing pan-European pension provisions. But critics say that development is still years away. Maha Khan Phillips reports
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Features
A range of approaches
Pension funds have taken an array of approaches to currency management. Some are using pure hedging strategies, while others are adopting active management. Maha Khan Phillips talks to pension funds that think about currency in very different ways.
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Features
Why currency finds itself in the spotlight
Currency managers have long argued that pension funds need to adopt active currency strategies in a bid to gain alpha. Now, many pension funds agree. Maha Khan Phillips reports
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Features
Using overlay strategies
In May, The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead tendered a E599m currency overlay mandate for the £1.3bn (E1.9bn) Berkshire Pension Fund. It is one of a string of pension funds who are looking at diversifying risk through currency overlay. Other recent funds include Strathclyde, which hired Mellon Capital Management, ...
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Features
Managing the custody relationship
Often, pension funds fail to obtain full value from their custodians. Increasingly, custodians are providing value added services and pitching themselves to pension funds. Observers say that pension funds need to understand what services they are getting. “It’s not unusual for many pension funds to go through the whole process ...
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Features
How tight a hold on the reins?
Last month, Paternoster, a company created by former Prudential UK head Mark Wood, announced that it has secured £500m (e722m) of equity financing. The firm has been set up to transfer the defined benefit pension fund liabilities off a corporation’s balance sheet and into an FSA regulated insurance company. Amongst ...
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Features
How to benchmark pension fund costs
It is, suggests Richard Stroud, chief executive of the UK’s Pension Trust, a question of being able to compare like for like. Take grocery shopping. UK Supermarket retailers Tesco and Asda compare their prices in order to attract customers. Why shouldn’t investment managers and third party administrators do the same, ...
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Features
A different kind of risk
People are living longer. It may be good news for the population at large, but pension fund managers will not be celebrating. Longevity risk has become a serious issue to grapple with. Annuities are costing more, and insurers are getting agitated, demanding more information from pension funds and raising their ...
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Features
The bottom line of catastrophe
Politicians will tell you that everything changed on 11 September 2001. But then again, so will insurance companies. For the first time, hedging a bet against a major catastrophe, in the form of a terrorist attack, does not seem like a good idea. Unsurprisingly, insurance companies are still reluctant to ...
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Features
Limits to help technology can provide
Unsurprisingly, software developers say they can help, and many pension funds are turning to technology providers. The Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Company in Finland, for example, has implemented a risk budgeting application from New York based provider RiskMetrics. Ilmarinen is using RiskMetric’s application on an application service provider basis. RiskMetrics ...
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Features
Moving smartly up the agenda
It used to be a simple enough thing. Allocate to equities, and ignore your risk exposure. Strong markets, and pension surpluses, meant you didn’t have to worry. With the heady days of the 1990s gone, pension funds are facing tougher times, and risk management has become an important issue. Not ...
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Special Report
Crying need for governance
Most industry participants agree that education has to be the foremost concern. “A lot of boards until recently have been made up of gifted amateurs rather than professionals. There is an expectation that this will change,” says Elizabeth Renshaw-Ames, a worldwide partner at Mercer Investment Consulting. She points out that ...
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