November 2022

Global top 300 pension funds

By Thinking Ahead Institute and Pensions & Investments Pension fund industry trends Growth headwinds test financial and sustainability mandate resilience Has the macro reality shifted from ‘lower-for-longer’ to ‘end-of-cheap-money’? The last decade’s fear of deflation has been replaced by significantly higher inflation. A steep rate hike cycle has led to more interest rate volatility and is placing pressure on pension funds to deliver sufficient risk-adjusted returns. Pension funds are expected to face elevated macro uncertainty over the short term. The industry has...

P&I Research Center. Public Pension Plan Benchmarks

Prepared by: Valerie Ge, CFA Research Analyst This report intends to provide insights into the overall and asset class benchmarks selected by the 50 largest U.S. public defi ned benefi t plans. The top 50 plans are selected based on their reported U.S. DB asset totals in Pensions & Investments’ 2021 survey. Eleven out of 50 plans did not disclose enough detailed information, and 10 plans had a fi scal year ended other than June 30. Insights into the overall and...

October 2022

P&I Research Center. Pension Risk Transfer

By Valerie Ge Over the past 12 months through June, $57.4 billion in liabilities were involved in pension risk transfer deals. Pension buyout transactions reached $25.3 billion, or 44.1% of the total, followed by buy-ins of $23.2 billion, 40.4%, and longevity swaps of $7.5 billion, or 13.1% of the total. Buyout transactions increased 93.3% from $2.9 billion in the fi rst quarter but buy-in transactions declined to $2.4 billion from $7.3 billion. Source: @s3 prod pionline 537 views

Herd Behaviour of Pension Funds by Asset Class

By Jacob Antoon Bikker & Ian Koetsier This study investigates asset herd behaviour for Dutch pension funds from 1999 to 2014 using quarterly data. We find herd behaviour for investments in twenty asset classes including non-traditional asset classes, and to both purchasing and selling. Pension funds’ herd behaviour is particularly high in alternative investments, which might increase herding in general, as pension funds move their portfolio towards these assets in recent years. Herding intensity is higher during stock market crises,...

Liability Driven Investment and Asset Allocation inspired by JPM LTCMA

By Eddy H. Verbiest A white-box deterministic system simulates long-term LDI cashflows using as input J.P.Morgan Long Term Capital Market Assumptions adapted to make them interest rate dependent. Trading, coupons and dividends provide cashflows to pay liabilities and extract excess cash to stakeholders while maintaining the allocation weights and target lifes. Performance is measured by FixPct: the annually extractable Fixed Percentage of remaining liabilities to run-off to zero. This measure summarizes the interplay of drivers over many decades and allows...

Pension funds in sub-Saharan Africa

By Owen Nyang`oro & Githinji Njenga The population structure the world over is going through a demographic shift, and the elderly proportion is projected to increase with population growth. This change is a matter of concern for sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, where the majority of the people are young and the rates of both population growth and unemployment are high. A good pension system provides elderly assistance and is a source of savings for long-term investment. The pension systems in...

September 2022

Pension Insurance Corporation Group Limited. Annual Report and Accounts 2021

By Pension Insurance Corporation Group Limited PIC is a specialist insurer which has become a leader in the UK pension risk transfer market by focusing on our purpose: to pay the pensions of our current and future policyholders. We aim to balance the interests of all our stakeholders – policyholders, employees, shareholders, regulators and others – with excellence in customer service at the heart of what we do. Source @PensionCorporation 532 views

August 2022

ESG and Private Market Assets: UK, EU, and Australian Investors Shifting the Trillions (2022 – 2026)

By M. Nicolas J. Firzli, Nick Sherry & Guan Seng Khoo The co-authors of the article, are amongst the original coiners of term such as “infrastructure as an asset class” and “pension superpowers.” They also predicted, at the onset of the Covid Crisis, that a “historic realignment on the asset allocation front is happening precisely at the moment when ESG is moving centre stage: even in once staunchly neoliberal jurisdictions like Texas, Alaska or Switzerland, the smart money is betting on...

Investment results for 1Q of fiscal 2022(update report)

By GPIF Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) manages the public pension fund in the long term and its investment results should be assessed in the same manner. In addition to the annual report, which is legally required, GPIF publishes the quarterly update report to enhance the transparency to the public. Please note that returns, which are marked to market as of the end of each quarter, include unrealized gains and losses and are influenced by the market trends. Get the report here...

The Essential Book of Corporate Governance

By G. N. Bajpai This book helps organizations to maximize wealth creation, build enduring relationships with stakeholders and be a net contributor to the economies of operated geographies. Based on extensive research, CXO interviews and case studies, the book assists companies to develop their own governance best practices. Get the book here  940 views