All IPE articles in September 2008 (Magazine) – Page 2

  • Stagflation has arrived
    Features

    Stagflation has arrived

    September 2008 (Magazine)

    Pension funds are now working in an investment environment that is not only difficult but that has not been seen some time, as George Inderst reports

  • Features

    Exceptions to the rule

    September 2008 (Magazine)

    The message from Anne McGeachin on international financial reporting standards (IFRS) was clear: "The IFRS must be applicable worldwide, and we therefore cannot go around exempting jurisdictions.

  • Panic sell-off opportunities
    Features

    Panic sell-off opportunities

    September 2008 (Magazine)

    The indiscriminate sell-off in European bond markets sparked by the sub-prime crisis has opened up opportunities for canny investors and reminds Joseph Mariathasan of the words of former US president Franklin Roosevelt

  • On the offensive when times are tough
    Features

    On the offensive when times are tough

    September 2008 (Magazine)

    When Yves Perrier (pictured right) took over the tiller of Crédit Agricole Asset Management (CAAM) last September, his immediate objective was to ensure that the company had not sprung any serious leaks in the financial storm that had broken the month before. “My first objective was to ...

  • Features

    New products

    September 2008 (Magazine)

    Longevity winners index Research, rating and index company E Capital Partner Indices (ECPI), which focuses on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, has launched a longevity index consisting of stocks that are set to profit from demographic changes. With the section of the population aged 60 or over expected ...

  • Funds risk selling themselves short
    Features

    Funds risk selling themselves short

    September 2008 (Magazine)

    As important sources of stocklending, pension funds are under pressure to ensure they are not enabling damaging short selling. David White reports

  • Hedge fund index outperformance
    Features

    Hedge fund index outperformance

    September 2008 (Magazine)

    With a performance of 5.02%, hedge fund index ARIX (Absolute Return Investable Index) Composite index - which covers the four hedge fund strategies of equity hedge, event driven, relative value and tactical trading and is sponsored by German Feri Institutional Advisors - outperformed its rival investable hedge fund indices in ...

  • Features

    Fine wine outclassed

    September 2008 (Magazine)

    As an alternative investment class, fine wine has rewarded investors with steady returns of up to 8% per annum over the past decade, according to the Liv-ex 100 Index. In the 12 months to end-June 2008 a typical fine wines portfolio rose 8.5%. But this has been trumped by ...

  • Ripe for fiduciary management growth?
    Features

    Ripe for fiduciary management growth?

    September 2008 (Magazine)

    With trustees facing an increasingly complex task in today’s tougher environment will fiduciary management take off in the UK as it has in Holland? David White reports

  • Reporting extra-financial returns
    Special Report

    Reporting extra-financial returns

    September 2008 (Magazine)

    A research paper entitled ‘The SRI Performance Paradox - How to Gauge and Measure the Extra-Financial Performance of Socially Responsible Investment’ by Christoph Butz (pictured right) and Olivier Pictet of Pictet Asset Management (PAM), suggests that extra-financial returns should be taken into account by investors after quantifying environmental and social ...

  • Regrets? Not even  a few
    Special Report

    Regrets? Not even a few

    September 2008 (Magazine)

    Bengt Emriksson is retiring as managing director of Kyrkans pensionskassa, the SEK8bn (€856m) pension fund of the Swedish church, after eight years in the job. He talks to George Coats about his career

  • Going Dutch on risk sharing
    Features

    Going Dutch on risk sharing

    September 2008 (Magazine)

    The search for a way to share risk between employers and employees continues in the UK with the recent publication of a consultation document. Gail Moss explores its proposals

  • Features

    Inflation concerns continue

    September 2008 (Magazine)

    Yield curve/duration Corporate Europe is worried about the business outlook: both sentiment indicators and real economic news have been deteriorating over the summer. But with headline inflation so far above the European Central Bank’s (ECB) own target rate - in fact it hit double that level in July - there ...

  • Features

    Hunt is on for commodity-related opportunities

    September 2008 (Magazine)

    Following record commodity prices this year, index providers are on the lookout for more opportunities related to the commodities boom. MSCI Barra, for example, has already developed the MSCI Agriculture & Food Chain indices, which are part of the MSCI Thematic & Strategy indices family. The new indices are designed ...

  • Feeling comfortable with shorts
    Features

    Feeling comfortable with shorts

    September 2008 (Magazine)

    In 2003 the two biggest Dutch pension funds pulled out of stocklending because they feared that short selling was contributing to market instability. Five years on, some are suggesting that European pension funds should do likewise

  • Large caps risk from climate change
    Special Report

    Large caps risk from climate change

    September 2008 (Magazine)

    Many of the world’s largest companies are at risk from the threats presented by climate change. A study by global responsible investment specialists EIRIS of some of the 300 largest cap global companies listed on the FTSE All World Index showed that 35.6% of the companies, representing over $6.8trn (€4.36trn) ...

  • Buy-out market shows dramatic surge
    Features

    Buy-out market shows dramatic surge

    September 2008 (Magazine)

    New players have entered a market of over €3bn in the past couple of years, finds Nina Röhrbein

  • Features

    A new world for the brave

    September 2008 (Magazine)

    The European asset-backed securities market now appears to be in tatters after a period of rapid growth that lasted until just over a year ago. Joseph Mariathasan investigates whether there is still life ahead for the market

  • Implementing personal accounts
    Features

    Implementing personal accounts

    September 2008 (Magazine)

    Liam Kennedy spoke to Paul Myners, chairman of PADA, about default options, charges and implementing best practice for the new personal accounts system