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Is chasing lower taxes really a strategy for value creation?

Investors are just beginning to understand global tax issues and the risks associated with aggressive tax planning by the companies int their portfolios, Fiona Reynolds, managing director of PRI says there are a number of common-sense measures that companies should begin to put in place.   The 2014 G20 Summit to be held in Australia

The investment model for asset owners: is there a best-practice version?

In the last of a series of articles exclusively for conexust1f.flywheelstaging.com, Roger Urwin, head of global content at Towers Watson examines the asset owner investment models that are recognised as best practice, questioning whether there are patterns to the models of success. The best-practice investing model could either involve how you do it or what

PFZW reformulates investment principles

PFZW, the €150 billion ($205 billion) Dutch pension fund for the health care industry, has created a new investment framework which is the result of an 18-month soul-searching journey under a project called “The White Sheet of Paper”. The framework will translate into policy and implementation steps starting from 2015. Jaap van Dam, PGGM´s chief

Risk parity – the benefits of a conditional approach

Risk parity is a meaningful and robust approach for building well-diversified portfolios, but it relies on historical volatility estimates, which penalises upside risk as well as downside risk and leads to a massive overweighting of bonds versus equities, even in a low yield environment. The authors from EDHEC Risk-Institute build the case for an alternative

The in-house investment team: right people, roles, rewards

Good people are at the core of any successful organisation, and that is true for asset owners. Global chief investment officer of Towers Watson, Craig Baker discusses how designing and implementing structures that attract the right people in the right roles can unlock long-term sustainable advantages that the right investment team can offer.   It

Ubiquitous and adaptive investing – the aspiration of a truly global fund

Large pension funds might be invested on a truly global basis but their operating models are rarely global structures. Towers Watson argues that asset owners can benefit from a business model that can deliver organisational performance, manages talent and aligns with core missions from multiple operating locations. Over the last decade, large pension funds and