Nick Wade: Driving from Beijing to Paris and stories in risk modelling

I chat with Nick, Director of Asia Pacific Marketing at Northfield Information Services, about the bubbles we live in socially, philosophically and professionally. Risk modelling has evolved to mirror active management and yet entails residual dogma and structural flaws in delivery and execution. In this fascinating conversation we unpack where AI will take financial services, the importance of time horizons and the better questions asset owners need to ask themselves in order to understand their portfolios.

Nothing on this podcast is to be considered investment advice or a recommendation. No investment decision or activity should be undertaken without first seeking qualified and professional advice.

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CalPERS’ public and private equity reset shapes performance

CalPERS’ public and private equity reset shapes performance

CalPERS is continuing to reap the benefits of a sweeping overhaul of its public and private equity programs, with the two asset classes, which are the biggest components in the portfolio, powering a 14.8 per cent return for the $637 billion fund in the last reporting period.

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No discount for alpha

Just because the BlackRock/Barclays Global Investors merger will create a global funds management behemoth – with $3 trillion under management and 9,000 employees in 24 countries – does not mean alpha will come more cheaply. Amanda White spoke to vice chair of BlackRock, Robert Fairbairn, about what the merger means for products, clients and the

Emerging wealth

In this research report Watson Wyatt asserts the long-term outlook for emerging economies will impact positively on emerging market investments, but it warns that choice of asset class and implementation route are not obvious. The report suggests exposure to the macroeconomic dynamics of emerging markets will be most readily obtained in emerging market equities, debt

Pension funds need to show leadership on manager fees

It’s time for pension funds to show some leadership on funds management fees, to demonstrate that they are at the top of the food chain – they have the check book. Roger Urwin, global head of investment content for Watson Wyatt Worldwide, believes pension funds have, to a large extent, been captive to the fee

Portfolio concentration and the fundamental law of active management

In this paper Joop Huij from the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and Jeroen Derwall from Tilburg University, School of Economics show the observed relation between portfolio concentration and performance is mostly driven by the breadth of the underlying fund strategies, not just by fund managers’ willingness to take big bets. mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content

Ones and Zeroes: AustralianSuper tackles correlations

In the final days of the hedge fund boom, the A$30 billion ($27.8 billion) AustralianSuper stepped up its investigation of the market returns embedded within the alternative strategies. Now, two years and a devastating financial crisis later, the big defined contribution fund has cut back its hedge fund program and begun analysing the true power

In defence of optimisation

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

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