How did they do?
6 March 2008

Performance of ten of the largest retirement funds versus investment classes. Read more

Aim at soft landing
11 January 2008

Hiring or firing your asset manager? You might want to consider using a transition management strategy before moving large piles of assets around. Read more

360º snapshot of responsible investing - A basic primer
31 December 2007

THE GOVERNMENT Employees’ Pension Fund (GEPF) - South Africa and Africa’s largest pension fund - recently signed the United Nations Principles of Responsible Investment (PRI), thereby setting an example for SA’s retirement industry that SRI should no longer be a secondary investment consideration way down on a long list of priorities. Read more

Good governance in plain English: A review of PF130
31 September 2007

Many of the latest scandals in the retirement fund industry like Fidentia, bulking etc. have stemmed from a failure in governance. The Financial Services Board (FSB) believes these scandals could have been avoided if strong, accountable Boards of Trustees had been in place. Read more

Disclose all costs
12 September 2006

Over the last couple of years, the savings industry has come under considerable pressure to reform with lack of disclosure cited as one of the key areas of concern. Disclosure can be defined as the “submission of all facts and details concerning a situation or business operation”. Read more

Portable alpha
28 August 2006

In this article we look at the strategy of using portable alpha and the opportunity that it creates for including non-traditional investments, like hedge funds, into a fund’s asset allocation.

We’ll first look at the concept of alpha and beta and describe why portable alpha was developed. Next we explain portable alpha via a simple example and discuss the types of managers that can be used with this strategy. Read more

Asset liability modeling - understanding the basics
22 August 2006

To fully understand what asset liability modeling (ALM) is and how it works, we’ll need to go back to basics. In general, people don’t work continuously until they die but eventually reach an age when it’s either impossible or unfeasible for them to carry on working. Once they have stopped working, most people still have many years to live, and with that come the associated needs, wants and responsibilities of everyday life. People still need to, for example, eat and have a place to live, etc and therefore require an income or some sort of savings to afford this. Read more

Hedge fund managers rake in the bucks
27 June 2006

South Africa’s hedge fund industry is mushrooming, with assets under management more than doubling in the last 18 months to about R16,8bn. That number is expected to jump to R20bn by the end of the year and R30bn by December 2007, according to Kevin Shames, a director of Alpha Asset Management. Read more

Stick to the map: The importance of rebalancing
11 April 2006

Over the last year, investors have enjoyed the returns from what has been a very fizzy local equity market. The equity party may or may not be over, but after such a period, it’s become very important for trustees to review how their funds are positioned for the next 12 months. Read more

Retirement fund focus
14 March 2006

Host: Michael Coulson
Guest: Laurett Jardim, Director - RisCura
MICHAEL COULSON:
Hello and welcome, I am Michael Coulson. A number of companies have recently released analyses of retirement fund investment performance for 2005. These can be difficult to decipher and seem to bear little resemblance to what members actually see on their benefit statements. My guest tonight is Laurett Jardim, a director at the consultancy Riscura, who will shed some light on how members should look at these reports. Thanks for joining us Laurett.
Read more

Big players wake up
14 March 2006

Like elsewhere in the global hedge fund market, South African private clients were historically the main driving force behind the industry's rapid growth. But, in recent years, the sleeping giants of institutional investment have begun to wake up to the attractions of hedge funds.
Read more

Fund managers fight it out to the end
23 January 2006

The final year-to-date results have come in and have culminated in one of the largest asset managers clinching the top spot in the recent performance manager surveys. Allan Gray has again reaffirmed its position as top performing fund manager. This is according to RisCura's latest monthly performance survey, RisCView, which assesses the risk and performance of fund managers in South Africa.
Read more

Independence just a factor
Financial Mail
1 December 2005

In most industries consultants perform a "feel good" role, providing a level of comfort for managers. Our former editor and MD, Stephen Mulholland, used to pride himself on never paying a cent to consultants, as he thought it was his job to manage and make decisions. Read more

No crystal balls  
Financial Mail
1 December 2005

But some information about past performance can indicate skill.
Many people like to review their unit trust holdings at the end of the year and replace the disappointing performers with more promising funds. Read more