All Special Report articles – Page 80
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Special Report
Smart beta: Lend to those that don't need it
Mike Story offers the case for taking the smart beta concept into the world of bonds
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Special Report
Smart beta: Neither 'smart' nor 'beta'
John Velis offers the case against taking the smart beta concept into the world of bonds
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Special Report
Smart beta: The nirvana of equity investing?
Low turnover, low fees, repeatable and testable rules and an avoidance of concentration in the biggest stocks make the smart beta idea compelling, concedes Matthew Beddall. But none of that can make a great-looking backtest into reality
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Special Report
Smart beta: The battle for the middle
Smart beta has succeeded because it can help solve not one but two important problems, writes Emma Cusworth. But investors need to be clear about which problem they are solving
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Special Report
Smart beta: Smart beta's Tower of Babel
Smart beta systematically introduces different risks than those contained in the market portfolio – and yet mandates are still generally benchmarked against the market. Brendan Maton writes about the urgent need for more suitable measures of risk and return
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Special Report
Corporate Governance: Cultural shift
The UK Stewardship Code, now three years old, was re-visited in the wake of an influential review of UK markets. But Mike Scott finds that there is still a long way to go before the spirit of the Code is embedded in asset management culture
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Special Report
Corporate Governance: A little less conversation
List all of the fora, working groups, initiatives, statements of principles, codes and associations dedicated to pursuing better corporate governance and other sustainable business and investment goals, and you would think that this was a hive of world-changing activity.
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Special Report
Corporate Governance: Cash in hand
Cash mountains and share buybacks are a prominent feature of the new corporate environment. Is this investor short-termism constraining productive investment, or good corporate discipline rejecting unproductive spending? Mike Scott investigates
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Special Report
Corporate Governance: Of carrots and sticks
The executive remuneration debate has evolved considerably since 2012’s Shareholder Spring, writes Nina Röhrbein. But there is considerable disagreement on the right balance between regulation and a voluntary approach
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Special Report
Corporate Governance: Can’t we all just get along?
Corporate governance thinkers believe peaceful co-existence between activist investors and company boards and management is at hand. Christopher O’Dea finds activism lauded as a valuable corrective mechanism that can improve performance
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Special Report
Corporate Governance: Springing into action
It has been two years since the so-called Shareholder Spring, which saw a large number of investors voting against company proposals. Nina Röhrbein asks whether the movement maintained momentum, and how corporate governance has developed as a result
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Special Report
Central & Eastern Europe Investment: Diversity in convergence
If there is one conclusion to draw from our survey of the investment opportunity in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), it is the importance of acknowledging the diversity of the region.
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Special Report
Central & Eastern Europe Investment: Eastward flows
Emerging Europe is looking ever more attractive to foreign investment flows, writes Daniel Ben-Ami. But should investors look east or south, to manufacturing or to retail?
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Special Report
Central & Eastern Europe Investment: Fundamentally compelling
Despite emerging market turmoil, David Zahn argues that fiscal rectitude and a shared desire to join the euro sustain the investment cases for many eastern European bond markets
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Special ReportCentral & Eastern Europe Investment: The emerging Cinderella
Private market investors remain wary despite the apparent robustness of eastern Europe’s opportunities, writes Jennifer Bollen
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Special ReportCentral & Eastern Europe Investment: The twin peripheries
After years of turmoil, Europe has two groups of reformed economies at its southern and eastern edges. But Charlotte Moore finds that they are not equally-positioned, and both still include countries with deep problems
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Special ReportCentral & Eastern Europe Investment: Turkey: Growth, but with deficits and political uncertainty
Analysts and asset managers following Turkish markets say the main issues affecting future Turkish risk rating are Fed ‘tapering’, the development of European economies and domestic politics. Turkey is heading towards local elections in March and presidential elections in July 2014. Both will pave the way for general elections scheduled for the summer of 2015.
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Special ReportCentral & Eastern Europe Investment: Lithuania: Euro membership versus Russia’s gravitational pull
Lithuania is tantalisingly close to qualifying for euro-zone membership in 2015. Inflation, which was responsible for the country failing in its 2007 attempt, has been tamed to within the Maastricht level.
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Special ReportCentral & Eastern Europe Investment: Serbia: Knocking on the EU’s door and attracting ex-EU investment
Serbia is close to opening discussions on EU accession, which has long been a target for the country after the traumatic Yugoslav wars of independence during the 1990s.
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Special ReportCentral & Eastern Europe Investment: Latvia: Bounceback economy adopts the euro
Latvia is the eighteenth and newest member of the EU and was the fourth CEE state, after Slovenia, Slovakia and Estonia, to join the euro-zone.
