The demographics driving the funds management industry, of ageing populations almost everywhere, are more complicated than you think. Greg Bright spoke to the Asia Pacific leader for Towers Watson, Bob Charles, who is a demographics expert, about the real demographic problems facing the world.
Equities lose out to bonds for Europe’s sustainable investors
Bonds are the favoured asset class at 53 per cent among European sustainable and responsible investors with equities dropping to 33 per cent, according to a Eurosif SRI report.
Norway aims for ‘green’ returns
The Norwegian government is trying to balance financial returns with sustainable development in regulating the GPFG, and the possibility of applying this model to other sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) and institutional investors in general. In this paper for the University of Oslo, Adjunct Professor Anita Halvorssen argues that sustainable development needs to be included in the newly adopted Generally Accepted Principles and Practices (GAPP/ Santiago Principles) for SWFs.
Tail risk hedging should be part of broader strategy
With bond yields at historic lows, particularly in the US, pension funds have been searching for new forms of downside protection to reduce tail risk, boosting demand for certain types of hedge funds in the process. In the US, too, where demand is invariably met by a quick supply of new products, specialist ‘tail-risk funds’ have started to pop up.
Endowment funds turn to alternatives
Foundation and endowment funds are allocating the largest percentage of alternatives to their portfolios, with public funds coming second ahead corporate plans in third place.
The case for a new look at global benchmarks
Indexes are important for pension funds. They benchmark the fund’s performance against goals and peers. They allow the fund’s managers to be measured and often times they decide the managers’ remuneration. You would think, then, that there must be a lot of science behind their use.
