Latest analysis – Page 15
-
FeaturesPerspective: Markowitz is still modern
Thirty years after he was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, Harry Markowitz’s groundbreaking work from the 1950s still powers financial innovation
-
FeaturesResearch: Resilience is the new watchword
In the first of two articles, Pascal Blanqué and Amin Rajan ask whether the current volatility in asset prices is a buying opportunity or the halfway stage in a prolonged bear market?
-
FeaturesBiden signal is green for ESG
For many, US president-elect Joe Biden spells hope. From an ESG-perspective, there are two main aspects to this phenomenon.
-
FeaturesSmart phones: the key to African opportunity
Demographics are often the least appreciated of the long-term trends that investors consider, despite being perhaps the most important.
-
FeaturesAccounting Matters: Who sets the standards?
You are what you know, the saying goes. And it goes without saying that the 211 comment letters the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) received on its Primary Financial Statements (PFS) project will represent some diverse viewpoints.
-
FeaturesPerspective: Manager selection in a pandemic
The social distancing restrictions imposed to contain COVID-19 have made external asset manager selection more demanding, but investors are adapting
-
AnalysisUK DB: Pushback over UK proposals for ‘one size fits all’ funding code
Not long before the UK went into its COVID-19 lockdown this March, The Pensions Regulator (TPR) launched the first of a two-stage consultation on a revised defined benefit (DB) funding code.
-
FeaturesAccounting Matters - UK DB pension schemes: One step forward, two steps back
As sometimes happens with Easter, one of the surveys of the UK pensions accounting landscape from consultants Lane Clark & Peacock (LCP) was later than usual. And, like an Easter egg, this keenly awaited overview of the net funding position of FTSE 100 defined benefit (DB) pension schemes comes in two halves.
-
FeaturesPerspective: What is trusteeship worth?
Running a pension fund is a difficult job, whether for an executive, a professional trustee, or a member-nominated representative
-
Analysis
Research: Stewardship – a key point of competition
In the second of two articles on a new survey, Amin Rajan and Simon Klein argue that climate-change investing is mandating asset managers to be agents of change
-
Features
Accounting matters: Totalling the sub-totals
A project that at its simplest is about the layout of financial statements should be uncontroversial. But the International Accounting Standards Board’s Primary Financial Statements project faces a potentially big test.
-
Book ReviewBooks: It all boils down to the three Ds
Paul Marshall’s pocket guide to fund management covers multiple subjects, each of which really deserves its own book. Nonetheless, he writes well, and has produced a diverse and entertaining work.
-
FeaturesPerspective: How to survive a reputational crisis
Pension fund trustees could benefit from developing a clear policy stance in relation to controversial questions
-
Features
Accounting Matters: Controversy over sponsor rebates
In 2014, staff at the International Financial Reporting Standards Interpretations Committee (IFRS IC) – the body responsible for developing guidance on the application of IFRSs – recommended the approval of an amendment to its asset-ceiling guidance.
-
FeaturesPerspective: Trouble in Lykkeland
The decision to appoint Nicolai Tangen, a hedge fund owner, to the position of CEO at Norges Bank Investment Management has proved controversial
-
Features
Accounting Matters: Will IFRS 9 cause a new crisis?
The global financial crisis of 2008-09 was fertile ground for the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). Suddenly everyone was talking about flawed accounting. Globalisation was king, bigger was better, and politicians were keen to assuage public anger that banks which seemed were healthy were in fact insolvent.
-
AnalysisPerspective: Funds embrace diversity
Some US pension funds have been leaders in diversity and inclusion. Are others catching up?
-
AnalysisPerspective: COVID-19: Funds seek solace in the long term
COVID-19 is forcing European pension funds to put on a brave face as asset portfolios and funding ratios plummet, and regulators soften their stances.
-
AnalysisPerspective: Inspired actuaries form COVID-19 rapid response group
At the onset of Europe becoming the epicentre of the coronavirus crisis, there were individuals in one profession that were keen to act as quickly as possible in response to what they saw “could well be humanity’s burning platform for change”.
-
AnalysisPerspective: EIOPA’s COVID-19 address reassures
A coronavirus crisis statement from EIOPA addressed to national supervisors drew positive words from lobby groups PensionsEurope and the European Association of Paritarian Institutions (AEIP).
