September 2025

UK. ESG as part of investment strategies

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations have become central to pension scheme investment strategies. As major institutional investors, pension schemes are at the forefront of an evolving regulatory and stakeholder landscape that demands both compliance and meaningful action. The ESG imperative for pension schemes ESG is no longer a ‘nice to have’ for schemes’ investment considerations. As the Pensions Regulator (TPR) has recently stated, awareness of and managing systemic risks is now a core part of effective trusteeship. It's a statutory...

US. Why Corporate Pensions Are Acting Like Bond Traders

The corporate pension de-risking market has hit the brakes after a record-breaking run. More than $14 billion in pension risk transfers were executed YTD through Q3 2024—the highest level in over 16 years. Yet YTD Q2 2025, volume had dropped 64% year-over-year. What’s driving this sharp reversal? Increasingly, it appears that corporate plan sponsors are behaving like bond traders—actively timing their de-risking strategies around rate moves and market conditions. Pension liabilities are highly sensitive to long-term interest rates. When rates rise, the present value of...

US. House Oversight probes whether American retirees’ pension funds are being weaponized: ‘Progressive playbook’

The House Oversight Committee is setting its sights on insurance companies that may have discriminated against entities with right-wing views. The committee is also looking into whether retirees' pension accounts were being used to invest in progressive policies they may not necessarily agree with, Fox News Digital has learned. "The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is investigating improper restrictions on access to capital and capital markets of individuals and entities based on political viewpoints or involvement in certain industries (such...

Leveraging pension funds as an alternative source for climate funding in Ghana

Ghana can unlock a transformative source of climate finance by strategically channelling part of its growing pension fund assets into climate-aligned investments. With pension assets reaching GH¢86.23 billion as of 2024, the country has significant untapped potential to bridge climate financing gaps. Directed deployment of this capital into renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, and resilient infrastructure, enabled under existing NPRA and SEC guidelines, offers a scalable pathway to accelerate progress toward national climate commitments, deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),...

How fiduciary duty is shaping pension fund attitudes towards climate risk

From an individual perspective, pensions are promises. Promises of dignity in old age, of rewards deferred, of stability earned over time. From a systemic perspective, however, pensions are systems engineers. Standing at the junction of what is and what will be – set the money aside now to live a good life in the future – pensions effectively enable economic systems to perpetuate themselves. Through investments, they silently design our future or, more often than not, prolong our past decisions. In...

Ghana Unlocks Pension Assets for Economic Transformation

Ghana’s ambitious 24-Hour Economy initiative has secured a groundbreaking partnership with the country’s largest pension fund to channel retirement savings into infrastructure development and small business financing, addressing the program’s estimated $4 billion funding gap through domestic capital mobilization. With domestic pension assets projected to reach GHC 100 billion (≈$8.3 billion) by 2025, the government signed a memorandum of understanding with Petra Trust Company Limited, Ghana’s leading corporate pension trustee, to invest retirement funds through Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF)...

For Pension Funds and Other Asset Owners, Trade Wars, AI, and Sustainability Are Financially Relevant

In my more than three decades working with the institutional investor community—is it really that long?!—I’ve learned that setting up consistent listening points is a good way to better understand what causes people pain. This is particularly true with the asset owner community, an influential and powerful group of investors whose opinions are sometimes held close but always insightful. These are the investment professionals who oversee significant pools of capital for the largest global public and corporate pension plans. They...

The world’s largest pension funds – 2025

The global top 300 pension funds is an annual study conducted by the Thinking Ahead Institute, in conjunction with Pensions and Investments. The research highlights high-level trends in the pension fund industry and provides information on how the characteristics of these top funds have changed. The world’s top 300 pensions funds now stand at a record US$ 24.4 trillion This surpasses the previous record set in 2021, completing a three year recovery Yet asset growth slowed in 2024, increasing by 7.8% from...

2025 Read on Retirement survey

By BlackRock Workplace savers are feeling more confident about retirement—but plan sponsors aren’t on the same page. As the gap in outlook widens, advisors have a critical role to play. Uncover the insights shaping this divide. Navigating uncertainty and a growing divide Saver confidence is up but fragile. This year’s dip underscores how closely confidence tracks with market volatility. And while savers feel increasingly sure, only 38% of employers believe the majority of their employees are truly on track—a record low. The...

Australian Retirement Trust invests $1b in Macquarie green energy fund

The Australian Retirement Trust (ART) has invested nearly $1 billion in the renewable energy-focused Macquarie Green Energy and Climate Opportunities Fund (MGECO). The numbers: The investment is part of the superannuation fund’s commitment to invest at least $2 billion by 2030 in assets that can generate returns while delivering social and environmental benefits. ART manages $350 billion in retirement savings on behalf of more than 2.4 million Australians. The context: Aside from climate change, ART’s $2 billion impact investment commitment will also flow to...