COMMENT
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May, 2017
A brief history of pooling
Jeff Houston, Head of Pensions, LGA. It sometimes seems a mere moment ago, but it is almost four years to the day that the concept of mergers in the LGPS was raised at an industry conference by the then local government minister. Since then we have seen two further ministers come to office, a Scottish referendum, a new government, Brexit and the Donald. ...
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May, 2017
Is it really safer to stay with the herd?
Paul Waters, Head of Institutional, UK and the Netherlands and David Kneale, Head of UK Equities at Mirabaud Asset Management. Undoubtedly, the pooling of investments into a smaller number of larger entities will deliver several benefits; using scarce resources more effectively and generating cost savings and efficiencies from the economies of scale. ...
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May, 2017
Cost transparency – challenge or opportunity
Steve Webster, Senior Adviser, Allenbridge. Much has been made of the impending enforcement of the European regulation MiFID II and its impact on transparency for investors. MiFID II is the sequel to the rather diluted MiFID regulations which were introduced in 2007. One of the key aims of the regulation is to ensure greater transparency by improving ...
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May, 2017
Adding up the numbers
Matthew Craig, Industry Specialist. If all goes well, in less than 12 months from now, eight new asset pools will take on the task of managing approximately £200 billion in pension fund assets, currently run by 90-odd local government pension scheme (LGPS) funds in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. While the constituent members of the asset pools ...
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April, 2017
It’s behind you!
Nick Clay, Lead Manager, Newton Global Income Fund, Newton Investment Management. Nick Clay of Newton Investment Management discusses the reasons why Pension trustees are increasingly looking to alternative asset classes to address their income and growth requirements. By doing so, he believes they might be missing out on a far more conventional ...
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April, 2017
Tomorrow’s world
Steve Lee, Head of LGPS Client Management, Investec Asset Management. What investment trends have shown consistent, resilient performance and returns over the last 25 years? What will be those of the next 25 years? How will the rise of emerging markets shape the way we look at the world? How do we invest for a better tomorrow and why? Steve Lee, LGPS ...
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February, 2017
Key investment themes for 2017
Kevin McCreadie, President and CIO, AGF Investments Inc. Kevin McCreadie of AGF Investments discusses what he believes to be the most important themes for investors in 2017 The year ahead faces heightened investor concern related to political uncertainty, turmoil within select markets, and a wavering bond market. These challenges mean that active ...
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February, 2017
The practical challenges of LGPS property pooling
Matt Day, Fund Manager, Indirect Property, Kames Capital. Matt Day of Kames Capital considers how local government pension schemes can most effectively move property assets from indirect to directly-held property should members follow the recommendations of the project pool report In January 2016 Project POOL was published. This comprehensive report ...
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February, 2017
Pension fund consolidation on an upward trajectory
Andy Todd, Head of UK Pensions and Banks, Sector Solutions EMEA, State Street. Andy Todd of State Street examines the trend towards consolidation amongst UK pension funds and outlines some of the challenges that will need to be faced Consolidation is the single biggest trend amongst UK pension schemes. An industry theme brought to the fore by the ...
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December, 2016
What a Trump presidency means for sustainable investors
Martin Grosskopf, Vice-President & Portfolio Manager, AGF Investments Inc. Hyewon Kong, Associate Portfolio Manager, AGF Investments Inc. Jonathan Lo1, Vice-President & Portfolio Specialist, North American & International Equities, AGF Investments Inc. Martin Grosskopf, Hyewon Kong and Jonathan Lo of AGF Investments look at how a republican ...
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