Mercer’s four themes for 2018
Mercer delves into central bank policy, geopolitics, macroeconomics and sustainability to kick off four discussions investors need to have as they prepare for a more changeable year ahead.
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Financial system robust but geopolitics poses threat: Bernanke
Former Governor of the US Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, says there are no foreseeable shocks to the financial system. In any case, he says, the system itself is so much more robust than it was before the crisis, that it could weather the storm. The only possible cause for concern is geopolitical risk. Risk
Liquidity tightens, volatility rises
How should pension funds in the United Kingdom best prepare for the government unwinding quantitive easing (QE) and tightening monetary policy? The Bank of England isn’t showing any signs of ending QE just yet, its policy begun in 2009 and designed to stimulate the economy by creating new money to buy government bonds. But QE
US banking system needs structural reform
Continued use of quantitative easing is sowing the seeds of financial instability, according to Sheila Bair, former chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, who says that the 2008 crisis taught us a credit-driven economy is not sustainable. Bair has been an outspoken critic of quantitative easing and says there has been too much reliance
Deutsche Bank’s carefully engineered fund
You would expect one of the biggest names in global finance to have a sophisticated pension fund, and on that measure the €7-billion ($9.2-billion) contractual trust arrangement (CTA) for Deutsche Bank’s German employees does not disappoint in the slightest. It has carefully engineered a diversified bond-led liability-driven investment (LDI) strategy that is supported by a
Gloom at NAPF attests to investor adventure
One year on and the job of trustees gathered at the United Kingdom’s National Association of Pension Funds, NAPF, annual investment conference in Edinburgh hasn’t got any easier. As the search for optimism in a low-return world endures, the conference seems to be caught in a time loop. Compared to last year, deciding on the
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