Pauline Skypala



Profile:
Full name: Pauline Skypala

Area of interest: Fund management

Journals/Organisation: Financial Times

Email: [mailto:pauline.skypala@ft.com pauline.skypala@ft.com]

Personal website:

Website: http://www.ft.com/ftfm/opinion

Blog:

Representation:

Networks: https://twitter.com/#!/paulineskypala | http://www.linkedin.com/pub/0/972/876



Biography:
About: http://www.ftconferences.com/bam2012/speakerdetails/3241

Education:

Career: Freelance for national papers; Financial Times: investment editor of FTYourMoney.com.; deputy editor of the personal finance section; editor of FT fund management, August 2004-

Current position/role: Editor, FT fund management (FTfm)


 * also writes/has written for:

Other roles/Main role: Other activities:

Disclosures:

Viewpoints/Insight:

Broadcast media:

Video:

Controversy/Criticism:

Awards/Honours:
 * Harold Wincott awards: Personal Financial Journalist of the Year, 2003
 * British Venture Capital Association (BVCA) / Isis Venture Capital, Personal Finance category: Journalist of the Year, 2003
 * Headline Money Awards: Pensions Journalist of the Year, 2003
 * Private Equity/Venture Capital Journalist of the Year Awards: Commentator of the Year, 2006

Scoops:

Other:



Books & Debate:

 * Institutional investment reference book OCLC 17568829, 1987 (with Christine Matthews)
 * Pensions OCLC 59782106, 1998 (with Derek Jones)

Latest work:

Speaking/Appearances:

Debate: 

Financial Times:
Column name:

Remit/Info: Fund management

Section: FT Report

Role: Editor, FTfm (fund management)

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:pauline.skypala@ft.com pauline.skypala@ft.com]

Website: http://www.ft.com/ftfm/opinion

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Monday (in print)

Regularity: Weekly

Column format:

Average length:



Articles: 2014

 * Education no cure-all for bad decisions - Explaining how pensions work might alarm rather than empower - 5th August
 * Tough test for UK’s Dutch-style pensions - There are doubts over whether CDC schemes can prosper - 10th June
 * UK needs local authority pension shift - Move from active management backed by research - 13th May
 * Is ‘smart beta’ the latest money tree? - Returns could decline as more money flows into the strategies - 14th April
 * Baby boomers put annuity market on trial - Killing off annuities will leave gap for pension payments - 1st April



Articles: 2009

 * US and UK oceans apart on regulation - London may gain an advantage if the US fails to move on hedge fund regulation - 1st February 2009
 * Ucits victory soured by Madoff scandal - If the strength of investor protection the Ucits funds provide is called into question it will not be good for business - 18th January 2009
 * Need to make clear views on short selling - Organisations working on short selling regulatory regimes should put good communication at the top of their ‘to do’ lists - 11th January 2009
 * Pension funds could show the way - The top pension funds could pressure the companies they invest in to take a longer-term approach - 4th January 2009



Articles: 2008

 * The perfect portfolio – a long time coming - Can the asset management industry break its habit of backing strong trends and encouraging investors to buy at the top of asset bubbles? Probably not - 14th December 2008
 * Waning star in ailing universe - Encouraging monthly savings may not be high on governments ‘to do’ lists, but savings ratios need to rise. The fund management industry needs to start lobbying for incentives (PDF) - 7th December 2008
 * Be wary of the next big idea – variable annuities - The products appear to promise a higher income... but with little hope of achieving that - 30th November 2008
 * FSA has chance to clarify ‘sales’ and ‘advice’ - Banks are keen to maintain the fiction that their staff offer disinterested advice, hopefully the FSA will not bend to pressure - 23rd November 2008
 * Time to reward good corporate governance - Fixing corporate governance is no easy task, but highlighting best practice is a welcome contribution - 16th November 2008
 * UK pensions strategy needs complete rethink - The damage done to DC pension pots has brought home to many the risks, writes Pauline Skypala, so it is time to design a safer system - 9th November 2008
 * Equity income is all in the timing - Despite the optimism of some that dividends will sustain equities investment through a downturn, Pauline Skypala finds plenty to be suspicious about - 2nd November 2008
 * After the shake-out – the era of boutiques - Where do unemployed investment folk turn? Wealth management may be one of the answers, judging by the growth in boutique outfits (PDF) - 26th October 2008
 * Questions about risk now needing answers - Regulators must make sure risks, including counterparty risks, are clearly disclosed and properly managed - 19th October 2008
 * Dire predictions coming to fruition - Pauline Skypala says she, for one, cannot say she wasn’t warned about the financial meltdown now in progress, but wonders what it means for pension funds - 12th October 2008
 * Time to bury the hedge fund label - Convergence rings the death knell for hedge funds as their techniques are adopted by mainstream investors - 5th October 2008
 * Way forward points to engagement - The crisis could lead to a full scale assault on self-regulation, but shareholders need to look more closely at their own role - 28th September 2008
 * Wise to go long term, pensions aside - Hard times demand an even harder look at pension delivery schemes. Pauline Skypala gathers sobering advice - 21st September 2008
 * Active or passive – keep charges low - With charges, the debate should not be about active or passive, but about a reasonable outcome at a low cost - 14th September 2008
 * The barbell rings true for traditionals - The latest research from the diversified financials group at Morgan Stanley confirms a squeeze on traditional managers - 7th September 2008
 * Any ‘value added’ must be measurable - Agreeing on a term for socially responsible and ethical investing might be useful, but there are still no criteria for measuring performance - 31st August 2008
 * No safe counterparty when betting on death - It has been obvious from the beginning of the debate about longevity derivatives that there is no natural holder of longevity - by Sophia Grene, 18th August 2008
 * What works? – the secret of success - Have some asset managers got lucky, or have they cleverly read the market. Pauline Skypala looks at what they have been doing to outperform their colleagues - 3rd August 2008
 * Financial quiz reveals the real sceptical me - As a former devotee of magazine quizzes, Pauline Skypala jumped at the chance to have her financial personality analysed by Barclays Wealth - 27th July 2008
 * Should we add yet more rules? - How much of a threat would a directive like Solvency II be to pension schemes: at least the argument in Brussel will ensure a forensic look at the issue - 20th July 2008
 * Building a better way to manage risk - Structured product is such a bad name for anything that it is surprising the term has come to describe such a wide range of investments - 6th July 2008
 * Time for the new in pensions shake-up - Predators are gathering. The defined benefit pensions sector has begun to shrink and the process is likely to accelerate - by Barry Riley, 29th June 2008
 * Asset allocation is gaining ground - It is unusual to find Conservative MPs preaching revolution, but John Redwood is definitely a subversive from the point of view of the traditional asset management industry - 22nd June 2008
 * Help us sieve the alphabet soup - Alphabet soup is a regular on the financial services menu. Acronyms abound throughout the industry, but they are usually specific and describe a particular product or organisation - 15th June 2008
 * PPF’s flaws due to quick-fix birth - The Pension Protection Fund’s announcement of the 2008/9 levy to be paid by UK defined benefit pension schemes has provoked loud protests - by John Ralfe, 8th June 2008
 * Consultants take stock of their role - Investment consultants are great thinkers. But they have to rely on their clients to be the doers. They can only advise, recommend and cajole - 1st June 2008
 * Back to the old blame game - Hedge funds and private equity firms were under scrutiny last year before the credit crisis intervened and the focus moved to investment banks and sovereign wealth funds - 25th May 2008
 * No verdict yet in active vs passive debate - How far can a passive approach to investment take you? One reader suggested in the letters page of the Financial Times* last week that freeing active managers to make use of shorting techniques required a reassessment of the active versus passive debate - 18th May 2008
 * Active managers – are they worth it? - Cost is a bit of a dirty word in the asset management industry. The impact of costs on investment returns rarely gets a mention at industry conferences - 11th May 2008
 * A ‘radical’ plan that targets distribution - I spent some time last week trying to figure out if a new structured product that popped up in my e-mail inbox was worthwhile - 4th May 2008
 * Investors need con trick to end - I expressed the hope in a column recently of a fund manager owning up to having ripped off customers in the past, but being prevented from such behaviour now by regulation - 28th April 2008
 * The scheme that refused to go bust - Getting to the ripe old age of three may not sound like much of an achievement for an organisation. But in the case of the UK’s Pension Protection Fund, Partha Dasgupta, its chief executive, thinks it is something to celebrate - 27th April 2008
 * Schroders CIO says hedge funds need more regulation - Hedge funds should expect to become subject to the same regulation as asset managers, according to Alan Brown, chief investment officer at Schroders Investment Management - 15th April 2008
 * Careful handling needed to safeguard Ucits' reputation - The European Union’s Ucits regime, which regulates investment funds that can be sold across EU borders, has been a great success. It is a brand that is recognised and trusted worldwide – Ucits funds are sold not only within Europe but in Asia and Latin America too - 13th April 2008
 * A split in the best interest of all - Should banks and insurers dispose of their asset management arms? Are such businesses a benefit or a burden in these difficult days? - 6th April 2008
 * Only fools rush in to short selling - The practice of selling shares short in expectation of a price fall has come under suspicion in recent weeks. Some investors, it is suggested, have started vicious rumours about a company whose shares they have sold short in order to drive down the share price and reap big profits - 30th March 2008
 * Dubious lobbying from property funds - Real estate funds are widely available to retail investors throughout Europe, but cannot be sold across European Union borders. An industry report published last week by the European Commission calls for legislative change to enable such sales - 16th March 2008
 * Hidden perils of pension buy-outs - However much actuaries may try to stem the tide, there can be little doubt that defined benefit pension schemes are passing into history – in the private sector at least. - 9th March 2008
 * US pensions safety net takes risky path - Making ends meet is a challenge for many. Individuals whose assets don’t quite stretch to cover their outgoings can cut back spending or try to boost their income. Pension funds faced with the problem do not generally have the former option so have to focus on the latter - 24th February 2008
 * The burden of DB scheme indexation - Could conditional indexation save the UK’s private sector defined benefit schemes? - 17th February 2008
 * All in pursuit of short supply alpha - The people who run funds of hedge funds routinely comment that there may be 15,000 hedge funds on the market, but only 150 or so make the grade - 10th February 2008
 * It's a topsy turvy world out there - Last week was unusually interesting, at least from a journalistic point of view. A market rout on Monday, a 75 basis point rate cut from the Federal Reserve on Tuesday, and the revelation from Société Générale on Thursday of a €4.9bn (£3.6bn, $7.2bn) fraud by one of its traders that forced the French bank into an emergency €5.5bn share issue - 27th January 2008
 * "Value destroyers" fail manager test - What makes a good fund of funds manager? There aren't many books written on this subject – a quick search on Amazon revealed only one on funds of hedge funds among the many on hedge funds, mutual funds and exchange traded funds - 10th December 2007



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