The Callan Investment Institute explores portfolio construction using risk factors in its latest paper. The research finds that while building purely factor-based portfolios is challenging and largely impractical for most asset owners, using factors to understand traditionally constructed portfolios can be very useful. The paper, from the research arm of Callan Associates, looks at ways … Read more
For the past five years David Neal has been integrating the vision of “one team, one portfolio” into the culture of the investment team at the $77-billion Future Fund. This has now been set in stone – well, porcelain – with coffee cups bearing the moniker used by staff throughout the organisation. The slogan is … Read more
The seriousness with which the Danish pension fund ATP takes hedging paid off last year, with the fund recording its best ever return. A combination of the hedging activity and a deliberate move to substantially reduce its risk meant the fund weathered the European storm despite the fall-off in interest rates. The 579-billion-Danish kroner ($98.4-billion) … Read more
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
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