With longevity making up an increasing proportion of pension scheme risks, new and innovative capital market solutions are being developed to transfer these out, reports Martin Steward.

The UK’s new framework for covered bonds should provide a boost to the market in the long term, although the timing of the launch has been unfortunate, writes Christine Senior.

The exorbitant fees charged by some funds of hedge funds are leading to calls for different fee structures and even direct investing. But the funds themselves argue that what they offer is even more important given the market volatility. Ceri Jones reports.

A new toolkit from the NAPF – including a detailed annual survey of user satisfaction – is meant to bring the assessment of investment consultants out into the open. But are they the right tools? Martin Steward reports.

Institutional investors have just started disaggregating alternatives into strategy-specific allocations and separating alpha and beta exposures. Hardt Group’s founders were talking up these trends two decades ago, and in 2004 they modelled their alternative investment

platform to enable investors to build portfolios on these principles. Martin Steward reports.

A second generation of ETFs claims to offer an advantage over traditional market-cap weighted equity indices. Ceri Jones reports.

The second half of 2007 was poor for enhanced indexing funds. However, ‘truly scientific’ managers with new investment ideas could reverse this trend, while clients disappointed with paying active management fees may begin to switch. Ceri Jones reports.

Virginia-based private equity and fund of hedge funds firm Private Advisors has established its first presence in Europe. Martin Steward speaks with CEO Jens Bisgaard-Frantzen about the strategies the firm brings to Europe and his plans to broaden the investment offering.

The global credit crisis has seen issuance of commercial mortgage backed securities drop significantly. But investment banks tell Nat Mankelow that instruments are currently mis-priced, preventing investors from behaving rationally.

Securitisation is showing signs of life in Central and Eastern Europe, with Austria as the hub. Nat Mankelow reports on the private deals being struck, but asks, when will the public market return?

Bespoke products for investors and variance swaps are just two examples of the innovation seen in the equity derivatives market in recent years. Christine Senior reports.

Attracted by less regulation and greater investment flexibility, Chinese firms are seeing a migration of key personnel from public to privately managed funds. Henry Smith investigates.

With investors worried by the events of the past year, hedge funds are seeking tighter regulations over prime brokers’ access to their assets. Elizabeth Cripps reports.

Climate change and social responsibility dominate the political agenda, but are the big institutional investors taking any notice? Elizabeth Cripps reports.

Fund managers are using ETFs to access emerging markets and maintain exposure to broad markets. Ceri Jones reports.