active management – Benefits Canada.com

64% of DC plan sponsors looking to improve financial wellness programs: survey

mdunne — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 13:00:35 +0000

The majority (64 per cent) of consulting and advisory firms said their plan sponsor clients are looking to improve financial wellness programs, according to a new defined contribution plan consulting survey by PIMCO. The same percentage (64 per cent) of respondents said plan sponsors want to improve participant retirement education and evaluate investment fees. The […]

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The value of stock selection in a low-return world

mschmit — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 04:08:40 +0000

Despite this year’s extreme volatility, the past ten years have been an extraordinary time to be an equity investor. This can be seen by looking at the so-called equity risk premium, which is simply the difference between returns on global stock markets and risk-free assets, such as U.S. dollar bank deposits. Over the very long […]

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New research finds asset owners largely satisfied with pandemic performance

mschmit — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 03:43:58 +0000

The vast majority of investors (82 per cent) are satisfied with how their portfolios performed in the first half of 2020, despite some weak results in strategies such as emerging market debt and smart beta, according to a new study of 368 investors with combined assets of approximately US$11 trillion. Following the quickest equity market […]

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Global pension funds still prefer active strategies on climate change investing: survey

mschmit — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 05:15:34 +0000

The vast majority (81 per cent) of global pension plan sponsors said they have allocations to some kind of climate change-related funds, according to a new survey from CREATE-Research. Specifically, when it comes to passive funds, 44 per cent of respondents said they allocated at least some of the passive segment of their portfolio to a climate change-related […]

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Investment portfolio rebalancing in the time of coronavirus

mschmit — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 04:45:36 +0000

Due to market volatility caused by the coronavirus, pension plans may be finding themselves offside their investment policies as their assets have drifted. Typically, pension funds have a strategic asset allocation policy, which specifies bands within each asset class that investments can move between, says Arun Muralidhar, an adjunct professor of finance at George Washington […]

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Institutional investors agree profits can’t be top concern for companies: survey

mschmit — Mon, 09 Dec 2019 04:18:37 +0000

The majority of Canadian institutional investors say they don’t think shareholders should take precedent over all other stakeholders, including employees, at a given company, according to a new survey by Daniel J. Edelman Holdings Inc. It found 91 per cent of respondents said maximizing profits in the interest of shareholders can no longer be the primary purpose of […]

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Can machine learning help active managers outperform passive peers?

mschmit — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 05:30:51 +0000

Active investors should combine their own analytical work with the use of machine learning to get a leg up on their passive peers, according to a new paper. Fiona Frick, Unigestion’s chief executive officer, argued that, in an environment where institutional investors are using the same strategies and no one is left with an edge, active managers should use “collaborative […]

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The good, the bad and the uncertain: Passive investing’s impact on financial stability

mschmit — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 04:52:03 +0000

Does the rise in passive investment strategies have consequences for financial stability? The shift to passive from active appears to be amplifying some risks to financial stability and mitigating others, according to a paper co-written by Kenechukwu Anadu, a senior financial markets specialist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, and Mathias Kruttli, Patrick McCabe, […]

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Interest in hybrid active/passive TDF strategies on the rise: report

mschmit — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 09:30:31 +0000

Fee compression is putting pressure on providers that are seeking to be more innovative in launching new target-date funds, prompting managers to consider more customization, according to new research by Cerulli Associates. The fee compression challenge is bolstering certain trends among target-date managers, including blending passive and active strategies, as well as the push towards […]

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Key considerations for investors seeking alpha through active strategies

mschmit — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 05:11:16 +0000

In the age old question of whether passive or active investing is the best course, a new paper from Mercer proposed a simple answer: it depends. Specifically, it depends on what an investors’ goals and priorities actually are, the paper said. The popularity of passive strategies can, in part, be attributed to their continued success. […]

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