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 institutional investors to incorporate best practice macro issues in their decision making.
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.
Asia-Pacific’s first life settlement swap
The $15.2 billion ($11 billion) New Zealand Superannuation Fund has ploughed $80 million into the Asia-Pacific region’s first life settlements swap, in a deal organised by Credit Suisse’s Sydney-based fixed interest investment banking team.
Hedge funds still a manager selection game: Callan’s Jim McKee
Jim McKee, director of hedge fund research at Callan Associates, believes the underperformance of hedge funds due to the one-off loss caused by the short selling ban should not be underestimated. He spoke with Amanda White about what investors should expect from hedge funds, why it’s still a manager selection game, and whether LIBOR is an appropriate benchmark.
Extreme risks
The events of the last two years have demonstrated that risk management cannot afford to stop at the 95th percentile, and that risk management based solely on volatility is not sufficient. This research paper by Tim Unger, head of investment strategy at Watson Wyatt Australia and member of the global Thinking Ahead Group, considers 15 unlikely, but potentially high impact events – such as the demise of capitalism – their effect on investments and possible hedging strategies.
NYSTRS reallocates to international passive
The executive director of the $72 billion New York State Teachers’ Retirement System (NYSTRS), Thomas Lee, has been given the discretion to reallocate actively managed international equity assets into passive funds, in line with a board decision to use a blended international equity benchmark, as the fund appoints new consultants to begin from January.
