January 2020

24Jan

New York City Takes ‘Major US. Next Step’ on Fossil Fuel Divestments

Meketa Investment Group has been selected to evaluate options and develop a prudent divestment strategy from fossil fuel companies in alignment with the fiduciary duties for New York City’s largest pension funds, the city’s mayor and comptroller announced. “While the Trump administration fails to address global warming as the crisis it is, New York City is taking action,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “We are dedicated to delivering what we owe to our children and grandchildren, which is why...

January 24, 2020
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24Jan

Morneau Shepell releases the results of its Performance Universe of Pension Managers’ Pooled Funds

Morneau Shepell (MSI.TO) has released the results of its Performance Universe of Pension Managers' Pooled Funds for the fourth quarter and for year 2019. According to the report, in the fourth quarter of 2019, diversified pooled fund managers posted a median return of 2.6 per cent before management fees. Since the beginning of the year, the return has been 15.8 per cent. "Both stock and bond markets posted very positive returns in 2019. The bond market posted a...

January 24, 2020
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23Jan

Ford to take $2.2 billion fourth-quarter loss related to pensions

Ford Motor Co. said late Wednesday it expects to take a fourth-quarter pretax charge of $2.2 billion related to pension obligations that will cut down on its net income. After taxes, the $2.2 billion loss is expected to slash Ford’s net income by about $1.7 billion, Ford F, -1.42% said in a filing. As it is a special item, the loss will not affect adjusted profit or adjusted per-share profit, the car maker said. It also did not...

January 23, 2020
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22Jan

Pension funds’ AUM set to rise to $61trn

Low interest rate environments in many developed nations, alongside increasingly volatile equity markets, are leading pension funds to adapt their investment strategies. In their search for yield, many are looking outside their borders as well as investing in alternatives, according to a new report by the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI) produced by PwC Luxembourg. The report, which examines the growth of pension-fund assets, their foreign-investment limits, and other key trends, shows that pension-fund assets globally are...

January 22, 2020
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21Jan

Head of Canada Pension Fund Warns on Rush to Iliquid Assets

The biggest global funds should all be monitoring their investments in illiquid assets, according to the head of Canada’s largest pension fund. “I do ring the alarm bell on not to be too invested in illiquid assets,” Mark Machin, chief executive officer of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, said in a Bloomberg Television interview Monday at the World Economic Forum in Davos. “We are very comfortable with our risk models and what we would do in various lurches...

January 21, 2020
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20Jan

Climate change pushes investors to take their temperature

Policymakers are pushing investors to do more to ensure their portfolio choices help to meet the 2015 Paris Agreement to combat climate change by limiting planetary warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, and preferably to 1.5C. A vanguard of insurers and pension funds, many of whom will be in Davos this week for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, say part of the answer is a new “temperature score” that gives a snapshot of how their...

January 20, 2020
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17Jan

Japan supports IDB’s social projects in Caribbean

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) says it has partnered with Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) in promoting and developing “socially responsible capital markets” through investments in IDB social bonds focused on education-youth-employment (EYE) in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Washington-based financial institution on Wednesday said that its social (EYE) bonds “foster human capital development from the classroom to the workplace”. “The funds raised through them will finance projects in Latin America and the Caribbean that promote effective...

January 17, 2020
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16Jan

Australia. Superannuation returns hit a six-year high in 2019, but investors warn of a 2020 slowdown

The total size of Australia's superannuation is staggering. Key points: The average super fund returned 15.2 per cent, while the typical balanced fund grew by 13.8 per cent in 2019 Those returns are the best since 2013 Analysts say lower interest rates, partly initiated by Donald Trump's trade war with China, were a major factor in the growth "We've got the equivalent of three football stadiums of $100 bills," the chief executive of the Association of Superannuation Funds of...

January 16, 2020
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15Jan

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink puts climate change at center of megafund’s investment strategy

BlackRock Inc. will ditch investments with high sustainability-related risk as climate concerns drive a sweeping change in the way the world’s largest asset manager invests its $7 trillion in assets. “Climate change has become a defining factor in companies’ long-term prospects,” Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink wrote in his annual letter to corporate executives on Tuesday. “Awareness is rapidly changing, and I believe we are on the edge of a fundamental reshaping of finance.” Fink is tackling the subject...

January 15, 2020
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15Jan

Nigeria’s pension industry squeezed as risk outlook for banks worsens

The Nigerian central bank’s directive that the country’s lenders must have a minimum 65% loan-to-deposit ratio by March will be credit negative as the banks are pushed towards making riskier loans, Moody’s said on 13 January. Loans will need to grow by about 5% from the end of October to meet the new rules, Moody’s says. Pension funds cannot place money with banks rated below investment grade, meaning that pension assets are concentrated in 10 or 11 banks, says...

January 15, 2020
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