June 2026

Ambition Under Pressure: Analytical Leadership vs. Strategic Hesitation

By Amy Owens The report, Ambition Under Pressure: Analytical Leadership vs. Strategic Hesitation, examines what the climate risk strategy of Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), manager of Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global, reveals about the way financial markets are pricing climate risk. It finds that NBIM has built one of the most advanced climate and nature risk frameworks among global asset owners. Its internal modelling goes beyond many market-standard tools, enabling the fund to assess systemic physical climate risk, climate-nature interdependencies...

Norway’s oil fund shows gap between climate risk insight and action

Norway’s oil fund, NBIM, has not applied its framework for measuring climate and nature risk into moving away from fossil fuels, a report from Carbon Tracker finds. The mismatch is due to a mandate limit, political expectations, and an increasingly uncertain global climate policy environment. The findings reveal the limits of voluntary investor action. Norway’s oil fund (NBIM) has developed one of the most advanced frameworks for measuring climate and nature risk, but it has yet to apply those...

Blue Owl, Ares Court Mexico’s $500 Billion Pension Fund Windfall

In Mexico City, the executives have arrived from the likes of Blue Owl Capital Inc., Ares Management Corp. and Golub Capital, all seeking a rare prize: a large pot of untapped money. Firms that haven’t made the journey may already have fallen behind. Mexican pension funds, known as Afores, represent a $500 billion opportunity for the biggest alternatives firms. They’re ballooning in size thanks to reforms that increased how much money is contributed to workers’ accounts, while other rule changes have...

The war on Iran could send UK pensions up in smoke

As a barrage of Iranian missiles rained down on the Fujairah oil terminal, the explosion was deafening and the destruction dramatic: a brutal fire, thick black smoke stretching into the sky – and untold damage to one of the region’s crucial pieces of fossil fuel infrastructure. The Fujairah terminal is part of the UAE’s key oil export route because it bypasses the Strait of Hormuz, loading up ships with about 1.7 million barrels per day. The attack on 4 May...

Pension funds in Chile gain appreciation for catastrophe bonds and are allocating: Report

Over the last few year’s we’ve noticed increasing interest in the insurance-linked securities asset class as an investment opportunity from institutions in Latin America and now pensions in Chile have reportedly begun allocating to catastrophe bonds. Helped by a number of years of consecutive strong performance, catastrophe bonds and ILS as an investable asset class is generating meaningful attention. This has resulted in capital flows that have helped to fuel the expansion of the cat bond market over the last few...

Pension funds manage trillions and most still underestimate their social role: report

Pension funds collectively manage more than US$56tn in assets, serve hundreds of millions of members worldwide, and, according to a new report, most still do not recognize the full scope of what they already do. The International Centre for Pension Management released Social Infrastructure Blueprint: A Roadmap for Pension Funds on June 1, arguing that pension funds function as social infrastructure providers whether they acknowledge it or not. The report said failing to recognise that role carries real institutional risk. Gibbins said aging populations and rising inequality...

May 2026

Allianz Retiree Study Puts Longevity Fears And Inflation At Center Stage

Find winning stocks in any market cycle. Join 7 million investors using Simply Wall St's investing ideas for FREE. Allianz (XTRA:ALV) has released new research on retiree financial well-being. The study finds many retirees are more worried about outliving their savings than about mortality. Inflation and rising healthcare costs are highlighted as key drivers of growing financial anxiety. For you as an investor, this research speaks directly to Allianz's core business in insurance and retirement solutions. The findings spotlight how inflation...

Pension Fund Investment and Firm Innovation

By Cédric Schneider, Dario Pozzoli & David Pinkus We use a unique database on domestic pension fund investment to analyze the relationship between pension fund investment and innovation within Danish firms. We find a significant positive association between pension fund investment and various measures of innovation, including green technologies for climate change mitigation and adaptation. However, this relationship is much weaker in highly competitive industries,suggesting that pension funds encourage innovation by monitoring and holding managers accountable. Our analysis also shows...

Investment Decisions of Defined Benefit Pension Plans

By Zhichuan Frank Li, Jun Wang & Yuqi Zhang This paper examines the determinants of defined benefit (DB) pension plan investment decisions of U.S. corporations with the largest 100 DB plans (Milliman 100 companies). We test two contradicting theories on DB plans. The risk-management theory indicates that firms tend to reduce risk in their pension investments when facing high risk, and the risk-shifting theory predicts the opposite because the funds’ downside risk is hedged by federal government insurance. We find...

Canadian pension fund crosses $793 billion as it weathers geopolitical storm

Canada's retirement giant posts 7.8% return for fiscal 2026, beating long-term sustainability targets as contribution rate cut looms. Canada's largest pension fund closed its fiscal year with net assets of $793.3 billion, adding nearly $79 billion over the course of twelve months despite navigating a turbulent global environment defined by currency volatility, shifting central bank expectations and a late-year equity selloff driven by Middle East conflict. CPP Investments ended the fiscal year on March 31, 2026, up from $714.4 billion a...