Institutional investors and investment banks had inadequate risk models and internal controls to understand and address the risks contained in structured finance products, a report into last year’s credit crisis has found.By Nat Mankelow.

The European Central Bank remains fully focused on the threat of inflation, writes Tony Dolphin.

F&C Investments has opened a new office in Hong Kong with a view to targeting institutional investors and mutual fund distributors in the Asia-Pacific region.By Henry Smith.

Stocks must overcome a wide variety of issues before they can start a

meaningful recovery, writes Daniel Farley.

A new poll by SEI has found that the current market conditions mean pension fund managers would rather decrease portfolio volatility than increase returns.By Martin Steward.

Some countries are squandering the windfall export revenues that they have been enjoying, writes Gorky Urquieta.

June 2008 may turn out to have been a key month for oil prices. June 6 saw a rise of almost $11 (€7)/bbl, the biggest ever single-day increase, and prices nudged a new record at just under $140/bbl on June 16. By Martin Steward.

Intra-regional trade and domestic demand offers some protection against the US slowdown, but the threat of inflation continues, writes Vanessa Donegan.

No evidence has emerged to support fears that the investment behaviour of sovereign wealth funds is politically motivated.By Henry Smith.

The power of human emotion holds sway more than most in the asset management industry would admit, writes Henry Smith.

The market for the buyout of existing pensioner liabilities can offer fantastic opportunities, writes Andrew Dawson.

Libor-based products have become increasingly popular with investors, writes Chris Oulton.

Dr Rudolf Apenbrink, CEO, Asia Pacific at HSBC Global Asset Management, believes it is best to target the large flagship institutions, and that China’s sovereign wealth funds are the biggest catch. By Henry Smith.

As an occasional lecturer in asset management at the University of Cologne in Germany, Dr Rudolf Apenbrink knows the value of education. It is one of the reasons why he is beefing up the sales team at the Hong Kong office of HSBC Global Asset Management (formerly known as HSBC Investments) where he is CEO.

Stuart Stephen, who runs Lloyds TSB’s pension fund, hasn’t shied away from addressing the difficult issues in his first 12 months in the job. By Nat Mankelow.

Little was made of the decision when 12 months ago Lloyds TSB bank recruited Stuart Stephen, the previous pensions chief at Barclays bank and Sainsbury’s, to run its £16.1bn (€20.2bn, $31.6bn) pension fund. Since the move, the Scottish-born pensions director has quietly got on with tackling thorny issues – how to make defined contribution products more attractive to younger staff, tackling the funding gap, and ramping up governance and best practice – for the UK’s fifth biggest bank and a top ten UK pension fund by asset size.

The director of the World Bank’s pension plan warns schemes of the complexity of investing in hedge funds and that governance structures may soon be “overwhelmed”. By Martin Steward.

European institutional investors are experimenting with separating their alpha and beta return streams. In theory there are cost-efficiency and risk-management payoffs – but is it as simple as it sounds?. By Martin Steward.

Analysis of the value added by individual manager decisions can identify skill, writes Rick Di Mascio.

Solar and other alternative energy products are in great demand, and a new range of ETFs aim to benefit from their growth Standfirsta. By Nat Mankelow.

VaR, which is widely used across the industry, has come under sustained criticism in recent months as models broke down in volatile markets. But is there anything better for measuring risk?By Peter Guest.

Analysing historic infrastructure cash flows allows us to draw some important conclusions about the investment characteristics of this compelling asset class, says Jens Schmitt of JPMorgan Asset Management.

Understanding what went wrong in the past when valuing the risks associated with underlying assets is central to turning around the credit market’s fortunes. By Nat Mankelow

As asset managers watch for the bottom of the credit markets, asset allocators who have remained unexposed to ABS could pick up some long-term bargains from the wreckage. By Martin Steward.

As investment banks continue to downsize their equity research units, could the increasing use of independent sources of research widen coverage of unloved companies and regions? By Nat Mankelow.

The growth and urbanisation of the world’s population is drastically altering consumption trends in agricultural commodities, leading to a secular shift in pricing. A number of commodity and equity funds have now launched, looking to gain access to these rewards. By Peter Guest.

In the third of a series of articles where Deutsche Bank provides expert insight into the developments and innovation in the ecommerce market place, Ian O’Flaherty, Global Head of FX eCommerce Sales, discusses how Deutsche Bank has utilised product and distribution technology to enrich the range of foreign exchange products and services available to its clients.

China’s sovereign wealth funds may offer lucrative mandates to global fund houses, but competition is fierce and it is important not to ignore the opportunities in the rest of the Asia-Pacific region. By Henry Smith.

Research from Ibbotson Associates suggests that hedge funds have a high correlation with equities, but do produce alpha with lower volatility. By Henry Smith.

Fund managers say that the fundamentals, technicals and macroeconomics are finally stacking up for Japan, and investors have responded. But views differ about where the big opportunities – and risks – might lie. By Martin Steward.

As asset managers expand their cross-border activities they require global support from fund administrators. But the complexity of the global business brings with it a number of challenges.

As asset managers continue to innovate, the increasing use of complex trading strategies is putting pressure on fund administrators to improve their procedures and controls.

Stephen Turner, of BNP Paribas Securities Services says the use of more complex strategies has brought challenges for clients and administrators.

Private equity could be the next growth story in fund administration, but it presents different challenges from those in the open-ended world. Which business model is best for those challenges?

Outsourcing can address most of the challenges facing fund administrators, believes Eric Dickinson of Société Générale Securities Services.