A 10 per cent increase in internal investment management results in a 4.2 basis points increase in net value added to a pension fund’s bottom line, according to analysis of the CEM Benchmarking database, which has data on more than 380 global pension funds from 1991 to 2007.

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As global markets nosedived and its initial investments soured, the China Investment Corporation (CIC) took the opportunity to reorganise its investment operations and focus on less risky investments at home and in Asia. Simon Mumme reports.

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As a recent survey by US management consultant Casey Quirk showed, for investment management, 2009 is all about beta. Director of research, Ben Phillips, spoke to Kristen Paech about mandates that pension funds are investigating, and the role alpha may play.

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In this paper by Vanguard Investment Counseling and Research, the performance of active funds in the US and Europe during the seven bear markets since 1970 is evaluated, revealing that the performance of certain market segments relative to the broad market may contribute more to outperformance than manager skill.

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Style investing remains a powerful tool in periods of market volatility and, in particular, style analysis reminds investors to be aware of the distinction between overall market risk and stock specific risk. Amanda White spoke with director of Style Research, Robert Schwob.

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The giant Dutch pension fund ABP’s plan to reduce investment risk as a means of recovery from an underfunded position is paying dividends, with the coverage ratio increasing from 86 to 91 per cent from March to April.

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