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Uncategorised posts

Disparity in policy portfolio risk profiles

A policy portfolio is a poor reflection of investor preferences, argued Peter Bernstein. This philosophical question has now been empirically tested by MIT’s Mark Kritzman, who shows the inter-temporal disparity of a policy portfolio’s risk profile. He suggests a simple framework for addressing this deficiency. Kritzman encourages investors to replace rigid policy portfolios with flexible investment policies. […]
Amanda WhiteJuly 17, 2013
Emerging Markets

Active management and ideal weighting in emerging markets

From a strategic asset allocation point of view, AustralianSuper is one of the most aggressive investors in emerging markets, particularly Asia. About a quarter of the $43-billion fund is in international equities, and nearly half of that is in emerging markets. Equities is the vehicle for AustralianSuper’s emerging market exposure because growth remains the reason […]
Amanda WhiteJuly 12, 2013
Emerging Markets

Opening China: a green light for investor action?

The changing nature and openness of emerging market financial systems mean that constant assessment of the environment is necessary. MSCI is currently considering whether to increase the allocation of China’s weight in the emerging market index to include the nation’s A shares. (Concurrently MSCI Korea and MSCI Taiwan Indices remain under review for a potential […]
Amanda WhiteJuly 12, 2013
Uncategorised posts

On a mission to cure capitalism

Al Gore, former US vice president and co-founder with investment banker David Blood, of Generation Investment Management, said sustainable capitalism is not an argument that pension funds should sacrifice value in return for values. Rather it is consistent with the core fiduciary relationship to match liabilities. “It’s what it’s all about,” he says. Gore defends […]
Amanda WhiteJuly 5, 2013
Uncategorised posts

The end of beauty contest active management?

Designing and implementing concentrated, long-horizon investment mandates would support longer term thinking, align pension organisation’s goals with its stakeholders, and reduce transaction costs. This was one of the recommendations of a two-day workshop in Toronto last month, attended by a delegation of 80 pension fund executives from around the globe. Aimed at uncovering the meaning […]
Amanda WhiteJuly 5, 2013
Emerging Markets

The complex puzzle of emerging markets

The emerging market story is a puzzle with many pieces. From an overall philosophical standpoint, the demographic and economic shifts are obvious reasons to have a weighting to emerging markets. But the complexity comes into play with the question of how to invest. Investors can consider private equity, property and other direct investments as a […]
Amanda WhiteJune 28, 2013
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