UK pension funds have suffered serious damage from recent policies to stimulate growth – in particular low interest rates coupled with quantitative easing (QE) have led to significant increases in pension liabilities, which have been further compounded by the sharp rise in inflation in...
Alternative assets: investments for a post-crisis world by Guy Fraser-Sampson ISBN 978 0 470 66137 6 (232 pages) £34.99
www.wileyfinance.com
The recent financial crises showed it is dangerous to have all your eggs in one basket, so there is increasing talk in the pensions arena of alternative asset classes.
In a particularly lucid book, Guy Fraser-Sampson of Cass Business School explains alternatives both to the expert and the novice...
Is an investment in gold effective in reducing risk? Juan Carlos Artigas, the World Gold Council, argues the case
The pension deficit of the 200 largest privately sponsored final salary schemes dipped to £69bn at the end of October 2010, its lowest level since 30 September 2009 when deficits were running at £80bn according to Aon Hewitt research.
The majority of this improvement can be found in...
Trustees should be thinking about keeping closer control over their investment in alternatives advises Bridget Barker, Macfarlanes
Over the last ten years or so, and prior to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, many pension trustees had increased their allocations to alternative assets and made some substantial investments in both private equity and hedge funds.
Since the implementation of the Pensions Act 1995, pension...
The Ontario Teachers’ purchase of Camelot could be a useful lesson for UK pension schemes suggests Anthony Hilton, Evening Standard
Shortly after Alistair Darling announced in the Budget the creation of a Green investment bank, Paul Skinner formerly of Rio Tinto and now the man who is charged with driving this project forward in his capacity as chairman of the Treasury unit known as Infrastructure UK, gave a...
Guide to financial markets by Marc Levinson (250 pages), ISBN 978 184 668 173 8 £20 from
www.profilebooks.com
The fifth edition of this highly regarded guide by Marc Levinson, a former finance editor of The Economist, brings the reader right up to speed with the latest developments in financial instruments and provides a clear and incisive guide to this complex world that even those who work in it often...
Islamic finance: why it makes sense by Daud Abdullah and Keon Chee (304 pages), ISBN 978 981 261 599 2 £12.99 from www.marshallcavendish.com
Though small in comparison with conventional finance, Islamic finance is on the threshold of serious expansion. Using a model of finance that rejects interest and promotes profit sharing, Islamic finance is based on Shariah which means “the path to the water source”.
Islamic finance...
Bigger and bigger
Aon and Hewitt are set to merge to form Aon Hewitt, following an industry trend for ever larger consultancies.
www.aon.com
www.hewitt.com
Buying spree
Xafinity is acquiring the business comprising trustee pension clients for whom PricewaterhouseCoopers provides...
