The recent rally in the US dollar after fears about a slowdown in China and Eurozone government debt has focused attention on what lies ahead for the world’s major reserve currency and the implications for funds’ hedging strategies.
Funds managers, pension trustee boards and fund members should adjust to a low-returns environment and think carefully about investment risk in such uncertain times, warned Tim Gardener, global head of consultant relations at AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) and a veteran of the UK asset consulting industry.
Some animals instinctively gather as a herd, apparently pension funds are such animals. A new asset allocation study by academics at Maastricht and Yale, presented at the ICPM discussion forum last week, reveals the mob behaviour by funds when it comes to asset allocation, leaving way for security selection to be the differentiator in returns.
A constant whispering in the hallway of pension plans is how to prepare for the inevitable move from a defined benefit to defined-contribution structure. But fiduciaries shouldn’t be scared, the game’s the same, at least psychologically.
Dutch Pension fund administrator APG will open up innovative investment ideas to other institutional investors, with the IMQubator hedge fund seeding platform it has backed launching a second fund to channel money to emerging managers.
Chair of the A$75billion ($79bn) Australian Future Fund, and outgoing chair of the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds, David Murray (pictured), believes sovereign wealth funds are at risk of discrimination if some key myths about their structure and investment intentions are not discussed.
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