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No discount for alpha

Just because the BlackRock/Barclays Global Investors merger will create a global funds management behemoth – with $3 trillion under management and 9,000 employees in 24 countries – does not mean alpha will come more cheaply. Amanda White spoke to vice chair of BlackRock, Robert Fairbairn, about what the merger means for products, clients and the

Pension funds need to show leadership on manager fees

It’s time for pension funds to show some leadership on funds management fees, to demonstrate that they are at the top of the food chain – they have the check book. Roger Urwin, global head of investment content for Watson Wyatt Worldwide, believes pension funds have, to a large extent, been captive to the fee

In defence of optimisation

Sebastien Page, senior managing director of the portfolio and risk management group at State Street Associates is excited about his upcoming paper “In Defense of Optimization: The Fallacy of 1/N”, which responds to the increasingly popular notion that equal weighted portfolios outperform. He spoke with Amanda White about the “1/N paper”, and how he advises

Norway SWF posts booming quarter

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the $456.4 billion (NOK 2,549 billion) Government Pension Fund – Global, returned 13.5 per cent for the quarter due to improved liquidity in fixed income instrument and climbing equity markets, as the fund continued diversification within emerging markets.