MERCER INVESTMENTS EXPERTS DISCUSS ECONOMIC AND MARKET ISSUES AFFECTING INVESTMENT DECISIONS 

Q2 2013

In this Ask the Experts podcast, Nick Sykes, European Director of Consulting, Matthew Demwell, Partner, Mercer's Financial Strategy Group and Jelle Beenen Head of Mercer's Investments business in Benelux offer their perspectives on issues raised from Mercer's UK Investment Roadshow in January and February. The hot topic discussed was, 'Should pension funds re-risk given improvements in the economic and market environment?'. Listen to their responses on the following aspects of the discussion.

 Listen to podcast - Should pension funds re-risk given improvements in the economic and market environment? (Duration:  4:31 mins) 

 Listen to podcast - What action steps should pension funds be considering?  (Duration:  3:00 mins) 

 Listen to podcast - How pension funds manage to re-risk their portfolios and constrain exposure to downside outcomes (Duration:  3:23 mins) 

 Listen to podcast - What does the future pensions environment look like? (Duration:  4:54 mins) 

 Download transcript for the full interview 

Q4 2012

This series of 5 podcasts, features Nick Sykes, Divyesh Hindocha and Simon Fox from Mercer’s Investments Business. Their discussion addresses portfolio building for the long-term, return driver diversification, diversified growth funds, allocating assets to alternative asset classes, and accessing emerging market growth.

Building portfolios for the long-term

Our experts discuss return strategies and their views on building portfolios for the long-term

 Listen to the podcast (Duration: 03:56 mins)

Assessing return drivers and asset classes for diversification

Our experts discuss the merits of diversification by return drivers or asset class for capturing return.

 Listen to the podcast (Duration: 03:30 mins) 

Diversified growth funds

Our experts discuss diversified growth funds and offer their perspectives on their future development.

 Listen to the podcast (Duration: 04:58 mins) 

Alternative asset classes

Our experts give their perspectives on the increasing popularity of alternative asset classes. 

 Listen to the podcast (Duration: 04:02 mins) 

Emerging Market Growth

Our experts give their views on how best to access emerging market growth

 Listen to the podcast (Duration: 02:55 mins) 

Q3 2012

This series of six podcasts, features Nick Sykes, Divyesh Hindocha and Toby Buscombe from Mercer Investments. They offer their perspectives on asset allocation and the latest trends for controlling risk and increasing diversification.  

Asset allocation: alternative investments

Our experts assess the shift away from equities towards alternative investments, and consider what makes this type of investment attractive. 

 Listen to the podcast (Duration: 03:47 mins)

Asset allocation: a look at real assets

Our experts discuss whether real assets are attractive to risk-averse investors and their role in an investment portfolio.

 Listen to the podcast (Duration: 04:24 mins)

Asset allocation: investment in infrastructure

A discussion on the UK Government’s proposals that UK pension schemes invest in public infrastructure. They assess whether such investment has role to play for pension schemes and some of the possible pitfalls. 

 Listen to the podcast (Duration: 07:23 mins)

Asset allocation: alternative assets and smaller schemes

Should alternative assets be the purview of larger investors, or if there are ways for smaller schemes to access their benefits. 

 Listen to the podcast (Duration: 04:46 mins)

Asset allocation: diversified growth funds

A increasing number of UK funds are using diversified growth funds, our experts analyse what makes these funds so popular among medium-sized schemes in the UK and question if this trend looks set to continue. 

 Listen to the podcast (Duration: 03:28 mins )

Asset allocation: lower risk strategies

Our experts review the trend to adopt lower risk strategies and asset classes. They discuss what other techniques could be used by pension schemes to reduce exposure to extreme downside scenarios. 

 Listen to the podcast (Duration: 05:57 mins) 

Q2 2012

In this “Ask the Experts” podcast, Nicholas Sykes, Paul O’Connor and Richard Dell from Mercer Investments London office offer their perspectives on prospects for economic recovery, the likely impact of slowdown in the Chinese economy, the attractiveness of emerging market debt, and the challenges facing active managers in dealing with a risk on/risk off environment.

 Listen to the podcast (Duration: 17:07 mins)

HAVE A QUESTION FOR THE EXPERTS?

If you have any questions you would like to be covered in this section, then please contact your Mercer consultant or email Claire Fazio.