More comment – Page 7
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FeaturesDigital health revolution ramps up
The world is at the beginning of a digital health revolution. This has been accelerated by the COVID pandemic that forced radical shifts in doctor/patient interactions, and supercharged by the emergence of OpenAI’s ChatGPT that brought generative artificial intelligence (AI) to the forefront and pulled the potential of AI in healthcare into the limelight.
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: UK defined contribution market
Many investors nearing retirement are unable or unwilling to take on the volatility associated with a more aggressive portfolio
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: The carbon credit conundrum – a new approach
The goal of linking verifiable carbon mitigation and nature restoration with a financial return has long been the holy grail for climate-aware investors
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Fee transparency – it’s good for managers too, but they probably won’t believe it
Asset managers are still not properly able to represent the true and comparative value-for-money they provide
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Opinion PiecesBetter the equity market devil you know?
Being a large equity investor in a relatively small domestic market can have advantages as well as drawbacks. Proximity to the market and its infrastructure, good knowledge of corporates and corporate leaders, and the ability to exercise strong influence as an owner, potentially a stable long-term one, all count among the advantages. The need to avoid concentration – in terms of position, sizing and overall allocations – and idiosyncratic sector exposure are among the challenges.
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Opinion PiecesGerman pensions sector backs cost rethink
Applause, which started mildly but ended robustly, suddenly reverberated in a packed Berlin conference room a few weeks ago. An audience of industry experts, pension managers, associations and trade unions clapped at the suggestion that Germany’s BaFin regulator should avoid repeating its exercise on cost reporting for IORPs, initiated by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), and implemented in turn by BaFin. The exercise was a disappointment, and an excessive, unnecessary effort for the German pension industry.
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Opinion PiecesCarbon reduction: absolute goals, please
Dutch healthcare scheme PFZW last month reluctantly changed its 50% CO2 reduction target for 2030 from a relative to an absolute target, following in the footsteps of fellow Dutch pension funds ABP and PME. The fund cited the “negative sentiment” around relative targets as a reason for its change of heart.
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Opinion PiecesUS: state enrolment systems gain traction
There are signs that the US state-facilitated retirement savings plans are starting to have a positive impact on both the creation and uptake of private pension plans.
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Opinion PiecesGuest viewpoint: Standardised data on diversity and inclusion will help team development
Promoting inclusiveness and diversity in organisations is key to discovering their human capital potential. But fostering a culture of continuous improvement is critical if this is to be fully realised.
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Opinion PiecesDo not blame institutions for taking risks
Alecta, the SEK1.19trn (€105bn) institution that manages the Swedish ITP private-sector pension scheme, is being probed by Swedish regulators for the €1.9bn capital loss it experienced earlier this year, as the three US regional banks it invested in – Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank – collapsed. The institution reacted by firing its influential CEO Magnus Billing.
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Opinion PiecesAustralia: volatility stirs valuations debate
As a disconnect in the valuation of listed and unlisted assets widens in today’s volatile markets, the torchlight is again being trained on Australia’s guardians of retirement savings.
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Australian-style reforms can unlock green growth and boost pension performance
Rewriting UK pension rules could unlock green growth, directing much-needed investment into sustainable infrastructure
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Differentiation – the future of professional pension trusteeship
When purchasing professional services, choice is good. Differentiated choice is even better.
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Opinion PiecesLDI lessons: be wary of future traps
After the global financial crisis of 2008-09, world leaders meeting at the Pittsburgh G20 summit mandated central clearing for derivatives. This was to allow for greater supervisory oversight and to mitigate against the unintended build-up of risks of the kind that almost toppled the financial system in the guise of over-the-counter credit default swaps.
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Opinion PiecesBlame will not solve the issues raised by the LDI crisis
The chain of events that led to the UK’s liability-driven investment (LDI) crisis, a high-profile inquiry by the UK Parliament, and a time of anxiety and introspection in the country’s pension industry, started well before then prime minister Liz Truss’s government and its somewhat reckless ‘growth plan’.
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Opinion PiecesAustralia: Caps, concessions and class war
The Australian Federal government recently moved to make a “modest” change to the nation’s superannuation system which, it says, will save A$2bn (€1.2bn) a year for its over-stretched budget.
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Opinion PiecesUS: Politics drive ESG debate
Three Republican candidates for the White House are vocal advocates against pension funds adopting environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment practices.
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Opinion PiecesGuest viewpoint: Pensions and the EU's plans on social protection
Elections for the European Parliament will be held in spring 2024, after which a new European Commission will be formed. Early preparation to collect new ideas is ongoing. The Commission’s high-level group on the future of social protection and of the welfare state published a report in February, taking a wide-angle look at social protection, including pensions.
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Opinion PiecesCDC: finally off the starting blocks
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) last month approved the Royal Mail Collective Pension Plan as the first registered collective defined contribution (CDC) scheme in the UK
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Opinion PiecesAlecta’s crisis management
It can certainly hurt a pension provider when investments go badly, but an organisation’s next steps in response to disastrous losses are vital.
