Latest analysis – Page 15
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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.
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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.
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FeaturesPerspective: How to survive a reputational crisis
Pension fund trustees could benefit from developing a clear policy stance in relation to controversial questions
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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.
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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
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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.
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AnalysisPerspective: Funds embrace diversity
Some US pension funds have been leaders in diversity and inclusion. Are others catching up?
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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.
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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”.
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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).
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AnalysisPerspective: Four difficult questions facing pension fund investors
The fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic poses many difficult questions for investors. Pension funds will probably have to reconsider many long-standing assumptions. These are some of the most intractable.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from US: Short-term relief, long-term pain
The COVID-19 pandemic is having an immediate and transparent impact on American defined contribution plans. But it also has implications for defined benefit plans in the long run
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AnalysisPensions accounting: A matter of survival
If there is one thing DB scheme sponsors and trustees can be sure of this year, the COVID-19 pandemic is going to affect not only their ability to fund schemes but also how they account for them
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AnalysisFixed income, rates, currencies: Thinking on one’s feet
The enormous scale of national lockdowns has made it hard to keep abreast of all the extraordinary monetary interventions and fiscal support packages worldwide.
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Opinion PiecesGuest Viewpoint: Jeremy Coller
The global shutdown is painful for almost every sector of the economy. But in some industries the real damage will begin after the pandemic ends
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Opinion PiecesThe case for a UK sovereign wealth fund
In November 2012 I suggested in an article in IPE that the UK should set up a sovereign wealth fund. The House of Commons had a parliamentary debate on setting one up in December 2016* and included the IPE article in the background papers. Unfortunately, Brexit overshadowed all else, but now that it is done, there may be a case for revisiting the arguments.
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Opinion PiecesLong Term Matters: Investing in an age of pandemics
Pandemics are master classes in managing existential uncertainty. Being overwhelmed is ‘normal’. Here are seven actions that we can take as citizens and investment professionals. The focus is on the US and the UK: their governments are floundering. The unravelling in the US is dangerous for investors. Both the UK and the US are very responsive to the financial sector.
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FeaturesResearch: The new benchmarks
Sustainability is set to become the gold standard of investing
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AnalysisCoronavirus: Pension funds take comfort from relative health in turbulent times
European pension funds have underlined their position as long-term investors as they face unprecedented market turbulence and an economic downturn.
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Book ReviewBook review: Radical Uncertainty by John Kay and Mervyn King
Within the terms of their own analysis, the authors of Radical Uncertainty might be remembered for a prescience they could neither possess nor aspire to
