Relief for Californian state fund investment chiefs, their bosses and their members – with CalSTRS and CalPERS both returning 20+ per cent for the financial year – has been usurped by a reminder to politicians that the funds cannot invest their way to good health and a responsible funding strategy is required.
Bond indices’ risk exposures are very unstable measures over time, and further this instability is accentuated in the indices with the smallest number of bonds, according to research by EDHEC-Risk Institute which examines two sets of four corporate investment-grade bond indices in the US and Europe. It concludes that the more investable the index is
The Chicago Policemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund is nearly 125 years old, but with a funding level of merely 35 per cent, it is perilously dehydrated. Chief investment officer Sam Kunz discusses his investment plan for the fund’s survival.
There is nothing like a bit of red-hot competition to get the blood pumping – 37 Principle for Responsible Investment (PRI) signatories are running for only six positions on the newly-structured PRI Advisory Council. Let’s hope this has the effect of actually transforming institutional investment portfolios, not just getting these responsible types a little spirited.
Domestic emerging managers are the latest focus in the private equity portfolio of the $239 billion CalPERS, with the fund searching for a new investment vehicle, most likely a customised fund-of-funds, to invest in partnerships that may be under-capitalised.
This Paul Woolley Centre Working paper, analyses credit default swap settlement auctions, showing the current auction design many not result in the fair bond price, and suggests modifications to the auction design to minimise mispricing. In particular it finds that an auction undervalues bonds by 10 per cent on average, on the day of the
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