All Opinion Pieces articles – Page 12
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Opinion PiecesAn uncertain outlook for UK pension journey plans
Following the Bank of England’s (BoE) emergency intervention announced on 28 September to stem the sell-off of long-dated UK government bonds, UK defined benefit (DB) pension funds were kept busy, as falling Gilt prices over the past weeks caused mark-to-market losses in liability-driven investment (LDI) strategies.
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Opinion PiecesLessons on LDI: learn from the Dutch cultural revolution
Around 20 years ago, UK occupational pension liabilities underwent a structural change. With assets weighted towards UK equities, still cashflow positive and open to new members and future accrual, liabilities were not too greatly discussed.
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Opinion PiecesGuest viewpoint: Diversification and dislocation in a place called dystopia
What happened to my free lunch? They told me that diversification was there for the taking, yet there has been no zig to my zag. They promised me downside protection, but all I see is red. They said liquidity was a benefit, but never mentioned the bid/ask spread. Welcome to dystopia in the era of dislocation.
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Opinion PiecesThe biggest test for private credit is upon us
Non-listed asset classes are sometimes touted as the weatherproof investment that can deliver positive returns no matter what, in both strong and weak economic environments.
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Opinion PiecesAustralia: Super funds shift focus to private credit
An ambition of the architects of Australia’s universal superannuation system, when it was set up in 1992, was to create what would become a fifth pillar of the nation’s banking system.
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Opinion PiecesUS: Pension plans face up to a tough 2022
After the terrible returns of the fiscal year that ended in June, what will US public pension funds do? Will they increase their risky investments to try to reach their target returns? Or will they lower their target returns?
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Consolidation in UK pensions market – what are the options?
Will there be an increase in pension scheme consolidation in the UK market and will it lead to increased investment in alternative ESG assets? Consolidation could provide the collateral to invest in greater ESG assets.
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Ageing demographics challenge Germany’s PAYG state pension system
Germany has a well-established occupational pension system, but participation among employees is only about 50% overall, and in the significant SME segment only 30%
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Opinion PiecesESG Viewpoint: The genius of SFDR - requiring ordinal disclosure is so much more than a label
When the EU originally announced its High-Level Action Plan for Sustainable Growth in 2018, its intended eco-label received a lot of attention. Many considered the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) a boring, administrative matter. Labels are shiny commonplace symbols hyped by corporate marketing teams around the world to instil a feel-good factor in retail consumers and bolster the defensibility of institutional buyer decision making. Required Ordinal Disclosure (ROD) is a technocratic idea whose genius has remained largely unrecognised to date.
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Opinion PiecesUS: Transparency concerns over SEC private market disclosure rules
Will the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) new climate risk reporting rules bring more transparency to private markets? Or will they have the unintended consequences of increasing the opacity of the markets?
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Opinion PiecesSolvency II: Rule changes can’t force risk taking
Changing the rules can often seem like a very sensible policy choice – whether a sweeping deregulatory reform or more of a technocratic adjustment to regulations.
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Opinion PiecesGuest viewpoint: Let’s make ESG real, and call out the fakes
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing has become pretty much mainstream. At its ideological base is the belief that a capitalist economy and polity that seeks the well-being of its middle class can achieve positive change by mobilising investment flows – in particular, that environmental protection and social justice can come about by correcting where investments are channelled.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Berlin: The German way to supervise the EU Taxonomy
The German financial supervisory authority, BaFin, has chosen its own path to deal with the EU taxonomy – in particular when it comes to nuclear and gas.
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Opinion PiecesAustralia: Role for superannuation in nation-building
A new Labor government has set the scene for change in Australia’s growing superannuation industry to ensure that some of the country’s A$3.3trn (€2,3trn) savings pool is directed toward social housing and the energy transition.
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Opinion PiecesTrustees must assess impact of rate hikes
The Bank of England (BoE) has hiked its policy rate by 50bps to 2.25%, prioritising the fight against inflation over support for growth in its domestic economy. This interest rate increase has hit levels not seen since the end of 2008 but in line with a majority of economists’ consensus.
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Opinion PiecesItaly’s far-right government won’t bring about great changes
The largely anticipated outcome of the Italian election was a strong mandate for the centre-right coalition. This would hardly be a new scenario, were it not for the fact that this time the chosen leader is Giorgia Meloni of Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy), a right-wing party with historical links with fascism.
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Irredeemably irrational – why using IRR to benchmark and pick funds makes no sense
With the continuing proliferation of managers, strategies and funds, wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was one simple metric that could help determine which to back (and which to avoid)? The good news: there is. The bad news: you’re probably not using it.
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Impact investing – socially responsible investing reimagined
Investment in support of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has more than doubled over the last two years. Yet impact investing has aroused skepticism.
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Five myths about alternative investments
Alternatives can help investors pursue their goals by being a source of new opportunities
