In recently released research, Dominic O’Kane, affiliated professor of finance at EDHEC Business School, challenges the assumptions about the operation of the eurozone sovereign-linked credit default swaps (CDS) market. The European Parliament decided to permanently ban so-called “naked” CDS in October 2011 on the back of claims that their speculative use caused or accelerated the … Read more
The complexity of sustainable investing could be a step too far for many asset owners with current governance not up to the complexity of embedding environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into decision-making, according to head of Towers Watson Roger Urwin. The comments come as the global asset consultant is set to release the results … Read more
With total portfolio costs of only 15.3 basis points, the $43-billion United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund is one of the most efficiently run pension funds in the world – not bad for a fund that has investments in 41 countries and 23 currencies. This year it embarked on an operations overhaul to bring even … Read more
How do the current economic risks facing developed economies such as the eurozone and the US impact your thinking regarding allocating assets to emerging markets (EM) debt?
On the back of a continuing shift in corporate pension plans away from defined benefit to defined contribution, Northwestern University’s Joshua Rauh and Indiana University’s Irina Stefanescu look at what causes the resultant freezing of these corporate plans. The paper takes the further step of looking at the consequences for both employees and plan sponsors, … Read more
US public-pension funds significantly underperform their global peers in real-estate portfolios due to a propensity to manage the assets externally, according to a new ICPM-sponsored research paper by three Maastricht University academics. Value added from funds management in private markets: an examination of pension fund investments in real estate looks at real-estate investing among the … Read more
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