There is still a degree of bad taste in the mouths of trustees when it comes to the use of derivatives in pension fund management, but some funds that have embraced the investment tools, such as HOOPP in Canada, are now reaping the benefits.
European challenges inflate allocation concerns
Investors’ increasing expectation of inflation risk in Europe, coupled with monetary policy implementation challenges at the European Central Bank, is an argument for a greater allocation to strategies that perform well in inflationary markets, according to a research note by AQR Capital Management.
Securities body ramps up risk surveillance
Securities watchdog, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), has revamped its structure to better identify market risks and develop regulatory standards for capital markets.
Should I Stay or Should I Go?
A discussion paper by APG’s Roderick Molenaar, and Tilburg University’s Kim Peijnenburg and Eduard Ponds, looks at whether a low funding ratio of a pension fund can creative incentives for individuals to leave this fund.
Allocating assets in climates of extreme risk
This research by MSCI provides “material extensions” of the standard stress testing methodology of portfolios. It provides a quantitative method to modify asset allocation weights in a stress scenario, and a new paradigm for translating extreme events into asset class scenarios.
Socially Responsible Investing and Expecting Stock Returns
At the Q Group Spring seminar, this paper by Sudheer Chava, College of Management, Georgia Institute of Technology finds that investors demand significantly higher expected returns on stocks excluded by enviornmental screens widely used by socially responsible investors, compared to firms without environmental concerns.
