Gilt trip

29 September 2022Economicsgilts, pension funds, sovereign debt, United KingdomNick Dunbar

How a populist fiscal experiment brought market mayhem and ended bond investors’ patience – at the worst possible time

Pension funds call in their loans

12 February 2009Articlespension funds, Risky Business, The Pensions RegulatorNick Dunbar

Risky Finance 17 May 2005 The cartoon character Spiderman starts out as a geeky, put-upon student who after getting bitten by a mutant spider, develops the power to climb walls and spin webs---powers that he uses to fight crime. Something similar is happening to the lowly UK pension trustee, who having been bitten by a…

The mystique of structured products

12 February 2009Articles, Comment, Risky FinanceFSA, Greece, JP Morgan, pension funds, Risky FinanceNick Dunbar

Risky Finance 17 May 2007 The session of the Greek parliament on 3rd May was an especially stormy one. A few days earlier, the minister for employment had been forced to resign, and the socialist opposition smelled blood. Why, clamoured the socialist MPs, had the finance ministry hired JP Morgan to package loans linked to…