More comment – Page 4
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Opinion PiecesUnder the spotlight: US pension plans and their use of leverage
Does US public pension funds’ use of borrowed money and derivatives pose systemic risks to global financial markets? That is the concern of global regulators, which have recently stepped up scrutiny of the practice, according to a recent article in the Financial Times (FT). But senior executives interviewed by IPE seem less worried.
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Opinion PiecesGreen champion to lead Australia’s Future Fund
Australia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Future Fund, which was designed to cover unfunded Federal government pension liabilities, is poised to “renew and refresh”, following the appointment of Greg Combet as its new chair from mid-2024.
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Opinion PiecesTeamwork in rugby and Italian pensions
A peculiar parallel can be drawn between the Italian second-pillar pension industry and the country’s national rugby union team and its supporters, which every year since 2000 gets excited about the Six Nations Championship.
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Opinion PiecesUK equities: stop tinkering and focus on the long term
As the UK heads for a general election this year, both major parties (Labour and Conservative) will be proclaiming their solutions to the UK’s perennial problems of chronically low levels of investment, a dearth of new innovative companies and disappointing growth.
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Opinion PiecesEurope (still) needs pension capital
The pressure on pension funds to invest in domestic assets never fades. Certain countries, notably in Northern Europe, have dealt with it better, for historical and cultural reasons.
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Opinion PiecesOpponents of Dutch pension reform can’t agree
The Dutch parliamentary elections of 22 November not only resulted in a historic victory for Geert Wilders. The record loss of the governing coalition also meant the new Pension Act no longer has majority support in parliament.
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Opinion PiecesAustralian funds jostle for slice of energy transition market
Australia’s largest integrated power generator and energy retailer, Origin, lost out on becoming a cornerstone investment in the US$15bn (€13.7bn) Brookfield Global Transition Fund after a failed A$20bn (€12.2bn) attempt by a Brookfield-led consortium to take over Origin last year.
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Opinion PiecesCross-border pensions: a better taxation model
When members of the European Union accession generation from central and eastern European (CEE) countries were young they used to dream of visiting Santa Claus in Lapland. As travel abroad was not permitted and communications were not developed, they wrote letters and waited impatiently for their presents to arrive.
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Opinion PiecesCorporate pensions: a close eye on yields in 2024
The final two months of 2023 saw a return to form for global fixed income and equities, with respectable single and double-digit numbers in each case. After a false start in early 2023, at least for a multitude of asset forecasters, bonds were finally back in the final months of last year.
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Opinion PiecesGuaranteed retirement income and AI: key themes for the US in 2024
The three major 2024 trends in the US retirement industry, according to senior industry figures interviewed by IPE, are: Plan sponsors will continue to expand financial wellness programmes and explore optional provisions of the new pension law SECURE 2.0. Plan participants will up their demand for guaranteed income and ...
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Opinion PiecesReasons to be cheerful in ESG-land
In 1979 Ian Dury, an influential British musician, released a song called ‘Reasons to be Cheerful, Pt 3’, which quickly became a classic. Let us consider why the world of environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing offers grounds for good cheer in the year ahead, even if it is not as rousing as the song.
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Opinion PiecesAgreement on Stability and Growth Pact spells Austerity reload
The reform of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) proposed by the European Commission (EC) in March 2023 had been criticised from all sides, but just before Christmas, European finance ministers agreed on new terms. The SGP had been suspended in response to the COVID-19 crisis but comes back into force in 2024.
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Opinion PiecesIBM revives defined benefit pensions in the US
This January 2024 marks an important turning point in the US retirement industry. Technology giant IBM, which has always been seen as a bellwether of American business practices, is keeping its 401(k) plan, but will stop matching contributions of up to 6%.
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Opinion PiecesAustralia's super funds strengthen their voice
A new superannuation advocacy body has been established in Australia. Known as the Super Members Council of Australia (SMC), it will become the voice of Australia’s rapidly-growing profit-to-members super funds.
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Opinion PiecesWhy DC pensions should choose private equity as first step into illiquids
Governments, regulators, central banks and even trustees are talking about illiquid investments and the productive economy. This is correctly driven by an underlying belief that illiquid assets can improve overall portfolio risk-adjusted returns. But most importantly, if defined contribution (DC) trustees are already keen to get behind productive finance, where do they start if they currently allocate nothing to illiquids?
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Opinion PiecesPensions are instrumental in Europe’s unfinished capital markets project
This summer will mark 10 years since Jean-Claude Juncker, former EU Commission president, outlined a vision for a European Capital Markets Union (CMU) – a project both uncompleted and still acutely needed.
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Unequal voting rights must be phased out
Weakening protections around dual class share structures will not deliver the desired benefits
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Opinion PiecesInvestors could do more to boost German start-ups
The German constitutional court’s ruling that the government’s reallocation of €60bn worth of debt to the country’s Climate and Transformation Fund is unlawful was a blow. But there was also also some welcome news last month.
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Opinion PiecesElection result is bad news for the pension sector
NSC, the new political party that made headlines in this publication with its controversial plan to block pension funds from converting DB pensions to DC without explicit consent from members, did not win the landslide victory that many pension executives feared. But they probably did not get a good night’s sleep anyway.
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Opinion PiecesActive management is back on the menu for US pensions
Rising rates and market volatility are forcing US pension funds to rethink their approach to passive and active investing. They are realising that their US stock portfolios are not diversified enough to help protect against a correction. But change may not come so fast.
