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Uncategorised posts

Stanford dumps coal: why divestment doesn’t work

The decision by the Stanford University endowment to divest from coal stocks might produce some positive PR, but from an investment perspective it’s only making them worse off, says Andrew Ang, professor of finance at Columbia University, who says the move prompts the bigger question of what the purpose of a university endowment actually is. […]
Amanda WhiteFebruary 20, 2015
Research

The predictive power of portfolio characteristics

Investors still rely, to a great extent, on past performance to assess managers’ future performance. Rather than rely on past performance outcomes to predict future results, a new paper, The predictive power of portfolio characteristics, argues that it is possible to improve the ability to predict future long-term success by identifying and measuring selected portfolio characteristics […]
Amanda WhiteFebruary 18, 2015
Editorial

Does pay for performance work?

Governance experts say that paying competitive salaries for internal staff will have benefits across the entire fund. For some, including those working in public sector pension funds or profit-to-member funds, that is unpalatable. But a comparison of salaries and total investment costs, between two large, different and high profile funds – Ontario Teachers and CalPERS […]
Amanda WhiteFebruary 13, 2015
Uncategorised posts

GPIF continues equities rampage

The giant Japanese pension fund, the Government Pension Investment Fund, continues its quest to move from bonds into equities and shift around 30 per cent of assets, or around $327 billion, out of domestic bonds and short term assets, appointing four new equities managers. The new asset allocation, approved in October last year, sees the […]
Amanda WhiteFebruary 11, 2015
Research

Pension fund governance needs an overhaul, still

How much has pension fund governance changed in the past 16 years? Not much! A survey of pension fund governance by Keith Ambachtsheer and John McLaughlin, which asked respondents the same questions in 1997, 2005 and 2014 reveal that the same “sources of excellence shortfall” exist today as they did 16 years ago. Pension fund […]
Amanda WhiteFebruary 6, 2015
Investor Profile

Asset owners take charge of the tender process

A candid feedback loop from asset owners to managers following a tender process will help raise the standard of transparency and appropriate offerings in the industry. Chief financial officer of Denmark’s Lønmodtagernes Dyrtidsfond (LD), Lars Wallberg, who has just overseen a full manager overhaul after a rigorous and deliberate tender process has advice to both […]
Amanda WhiteFebruary 4, 2015
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