All Opinion Pieces articles – Page 10
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Opinion PiecesBanking crisis delivers a lesson on equity strategy
We may never know the precise reasons why the in-house equity team of Alecta, the €105bn Swedish pension scheme, chose to invest in excess of €1bn in risky US banks including Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), much of which has now been written off.
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Opinion PiecesAustralia: Super funds shift to fixed income
With fear of recession in Australia and globally, superannuation funds have gone into defensive mode. Cash and liquidity are two key considerations for CIOs, and some are waiting to take advantage of attractive market opportunities.
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Opinion PiecesGuest viewpoint: LDI regulation should not ignore private asset solutions
In the aftermath of the liability-driven investing (LDI) crisis, The Pensions Regulator (TPR) in the UK drew up guidelines for pension funds to improve the resilience of LDI strategies. These guidelines primarily aim to support the creation of liquidity buffers so that pension funds can withstand yield shocks. To that end, the guidelines advise pension funds to conduct stress tests and identify suitable collateral with respect to both leveraged and unleveraged LDI strategies using yield-shock scenarios.
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Opinion PiecesQuestions BP investors should ask themselves
A lot has happened in sustainable finance since the last AGM season: an energy crisis in Europe, an escalating legal campaign against ESG in the US, a credibility crisis for the world’s biggest net zero investment group, and ground-breaking political agreements to protect the planet’s natural resources and marine ecosystems.
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Stewardship beyond the surface: not all engagement is created equal
Put simply, good engagement leads to better client outcomes over the long run – and the opposite also applies
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Can we use gender diversity to generate greater investment returns?
The effect of gender diversity on company performance has been well researched, but can it be used to identify the potential for better investment outcomes? Realindex conducted a new study to find out.
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: The power of prioritisation
When you can’t decide on return and risk, you think of the window of light
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Opinion PiecesGermany's gamble with sweeping pension reforms
This is without a doubt an interesting time for pension reforms in Germany, given the inevitable associated risks of failure.
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Opinion PiecesGuest viewpoint: The elephant in ISSB's drawing room
In mid-summer 2022, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) invited public comments on exposure drafts of its first two white papers: IFRS S1 on general requirements for disclosure of sustainability-related financial information, and IFRS S2 on climate-related disclosures. It received what was described as a “torrent” of responses.
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Opinion PiecesThe cost of gender equality in pensions
The gender pension gap continues to be a significant issue in the European labour market, where women are at a disadvantage compared to men in terms of retirement income.
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Opinion PiecesHow to define natural capital and greenwashing
Last month, I wrote about recent challenges that have arisen from the terminology of sustainable finance – the legal and political consequences of the sometimes careless ways that terms like ESG, ethics, risks and impact have been interchanged depending on audience and public mood.
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Opinion PiecesMight Ukraine’s distressed assets one day look attractive to pension funds?
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has tested Europe’s political and economic resolve. But where Vladimir Putin attempted to sow discord, he instead has failed to divide the West.
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Progress managing climate risk means stops as well as sprints
A climate stocktake may feel like a delay – in fact, it is crucial to making progress
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: China - Reopening should drive growth
After a year of anaemic growth – by China’s standards – we expect a recovery in Chinese economic activity to gradually take place in 2023
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Clearing made easier and more resilient, but you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs
CCP clearing is highly concentrated in a few financial centres around the globe, with the City of London playing a very important role
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Opinion PiecesGermany's first-pillar pension reform plans: tough to meet expectations
How would you design your asset allocation if you were building a portfolio from scratch? This is the question facing the governors of Germany’s new state pension buffer fund, the grandly titled ‘Generationenkapital’ (Generational Capital) fund. The expectations are high.
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Opinion PiecesTime for honesty in the face of the ESG backlash
Sustainable finance is a broad church: it covers small investors whose clients want their capital to benefit society through to big managers who only consider environmental and social issues if they stand to make money.
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Opinion PiecesUS: Sponsors back pension buyouts
In 2022, pension risk transfer (PRT) deals in the US reached a record of over $50bn (€46.5bn), according to estimates. And many industry observers expect demand from plan sponsors for PRT solutions to remain strong in 2023.
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Opinion PiecesAustralia: Super funds face the future of fossil fuels
After a year when fossil fuel stocks outperformed all other shares, Australian super funds face a conundrum – to buy, hold or sell?
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Opinion PiecesDenmark: Seeking answers on unlisted valuations
The perennial problem of how unlisted assets should be valued has reared its head in Denmark. Data collated by one financial adviser on pension funds’ 2022 private equity investments has led to worries about an apparent black-box approach to valuation processes.
