January 2022

Companies’ U.S. Pension Plans Are More Overfunded Than They Have Been in Years

Companies’ U.S. pension plans are more overfunded than they have been in years amid strong equity markets. Those surpluses will likely go up further if long-term corporate bond yields continue to rise, as many of these plans use those yields to value their liabilities. That could prompt finance chiefs to revise their pension strategies. An estimated 40 of the largest 100 U.S. pension plans were funded at 100% or more in 2021, the most since 2007, and up from 16 in...

UK university pension scheme to add climate focus to 5 billion stg of AUM

Britain's Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) will add a climate focus to 5 billion pounds ($6.77 billion) of its assets under management to meet climate targets, it said on Monday. The climate focus will initially reduce emissions compared to the broad equity market by at least 30%, and further cut its carbon intensity by 7% each following year, USS said in a statement. USS, which has 82 billion pounds in total assets under management and is one of Britain's biggest pension schemes,...

Chile. Boric reitera que no apoyará más retiros de AFP y anticipa consenso en sucesor de Marcel en el Central

Chile. Boric reitera que no apoyará más retiros de AFP y anticipa consenso en sucesor de Marcel en el Central

El presidente electo, Gabriel Boric, reiteró que no promoverá nuevos retiros de recursos desde los fondos de pensiones y anticipó que espera un consenso en torno a la sucesión de su próximo ministro de Hacienda, Mario Marcel, en el Consejo del Banco Central, de quien destacó además su seriedad para asegurar el cumplimiento del programa de gobierno. Leer también Pensiones en Chile, otro dolor de cabeza para el GEA en medio de la pelea con los Gilinski En una entrevista en...

Investors need to create own targets for China

Asset owners need to actively determine what their exposures to China's fast-growing equity universe should be, rather than relying on emerging markets benchmark indexes providing limited access now to some of the mainland's most compelling alpha and diversification opportunities, according to Acadian Asset Management LLC. The $113 billion Boston-based quant manager's Dec. 16 paper, "Polarizing Views: China's Impact on Emerging Markets Investing," calls on institutional investors to review and revamp their allocations to China, unconstrained by benchmark weights, based on...

Pension Funding Index January 2022

By Zorast Wadia & Charles J. Clark Corporate pension plans experienced a win-win year in 2021, with an investment gain of 8.33% alongside increasing discount rates and a cumulative liability return (e.g., the projected benefit obligation decrease) of -1.96%. The result was a staggering $183 billion improvement in the funded status deficit of the Milliman 100 Pension Funding Index (PFI), the second-largest in the report’s history (exceeded only by the $204 billion improvement in 2013). In 2021, corporate pension asset returns...

Is Demand for Older Workers Adjusting to an Aging Labor Force?

By Damir Cosic & C. Eugene Steuerle This paper analyzes the demand for older workers, their substitutability with younger workers, and how well the demand for older workers tracks changes in the age composition of the labor force. The main data source for the analysis is the Quarterly Workforce Indicators from 2000 to 2018, which provides earnings and employment by sector and metropolitan statistical area. The analysis also uses KLEMS national data to estimate the sector-specific price and quantity of...

In a Highly Indebted Economy: Security Issues for the Asset-based China’s Reform and the Financial System

By Tianyong Zhou Since the start of the 21st century, all major global economies have been experiencing a shift to a model of low consumption, low interest rate, low inflation, low growth and high debt. China is no exception. This article argues that in the high-indebtedness economic model, the proportion of committed and guaranteed debt service credit is decreasing, while the proportion of asset-backed credit corresponding to debt is on the rise; and with respect to currency stability, the role...

The Effects of Credible Voluntary Disclosures: Institutional Investor Engagement and Investees’ ESG Performances

By Massimiliano Bonacchi, April Klein, Sara Longo & Giovanni Strampelli We study the effectiveness of institutional investor engagement on the ESG performance of a sample of UK firms listed in the FTSE 350 Index. To measure the quality of engagement, we exploit the introduction of the tiering classification system by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) in 2016 for signatories’ reporting under the UK Stewardship Code. Using an entropy matched difference-in-differences research design, we show that the introduction of the tiering...

U.S. Pension Funds Hold Clue to Relief for Slumping Treasuries

U.S. pension funds may be primed to take advantage of higher yields in global bonds and could put a floor on the market’s slump. Pension funding versus liabilities was close to 100% at the end of 2021, for the first time since the financial crisis, according to investment advisory firm Milliman, based on data from 100 U.S. public companies sponsoring the largest defined benefit pension plans. Such funds could be “keen to lock in” that status and turn to the...

UK. MPs criticise ‘shameful’ underpaying of state pensions

The long-term underpayment of thousands of state pensioners, mainly widows, divorcees and women who rely on their husband’s pension contributions for some of their pension, is a “shameful shambles”, according to the public spending watchdog. About 134,000 people have had their state pension underpaid to the tune of £1bn, according to a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) estimate. The vast majority of those affected are women who should have had their pension topped up when their husband retired even if...