July 2024
31Jul

Climate Polarization and Green Investment

By Anders Anderson & David T. Robinson We build a nationally representative sample of retirement savers in Sweden to study how climate polarizaton affects individual investment decisions. After the record-breaking heat wave of 2018, respondents in regions with strong support for a right-wing, anti-climate party grow less concerned about climate change, while respondents outside these regions grow more concerned. Those growing more concerned rebalance their retirement portfolios toward climate-friendly mutual funds; those growing less concerned rebalance out of these funds,...

July 31, 2024
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30Jul

US. Michigan joins Wisconsin pension fund with bitcoin investment

When the Securities and Exchange Commission approved bitcoin exchange-traded funds, one of the questions after the approval was whether institutional investors would now be more comfortable investing in the cryptocurrency using those vehicles. It joins its neighboring swing-state retirement fund in investing in the cryptocurrency. The State of Wisconsin Investment Board previously has shown up in the top shareholder lists for the iShares Bitcoin Trust and the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust . The Jersey City, N.J., pension fund is looking to invest...

July 30, 2024
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29Jul

Japanese pension funds tiptoe into moonshot tech investments

Tokyo-based Beyond Next Ventures’ latest startup fund is 56% bigger than its predecessor, thanks to growing interest from the country’s traditionally risk-averse pension funds. Of the ¥25.7 billion ($160 million) the company raised for bets on cutting-edge tech and research startups, 20% came from trustees handling annuities and other long-term investments, according to the company. It’s one of the first signs that a trickle of money from the aging economy’s $$3.3 trillion’ worth of pension assets is going into the...

July 29, 2024
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25Jul

U.S. states are ordering their pension funds to sell their China investments

As state treasurer, Vivek Malek pushed Missouri’s main retirement system to pull its investments from Chinese companies, making Missouri among the first nationally to do so. Now Malek is touting the Chinese divestment as he seeks reelection in an Aug. 6 Republican primary against challengers who also are denouncing financial connections to China. The Missouri treasurer’s race highlights a new facet of opposition to China, which has been cast as a top threat to the U.S. by many candidates seeking...

July 25, 2024
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23Jul

UK government announces ‘landmark’ pensions review

The UK’s chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves, has announced a landmark pensions review as part of the new government’s mission to “boost growth and make every part of Britain better off”. Labour had promised to launch the pensions review as part of its manifesto prior to the UK’s general election and the industry has been awaiting this announcement since Labour’s landslide win earlier this month. Under plans unveiled by the new chancellor this weekend, billions of pounds of investment could be unlocked in...

July 23, 2024
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23Jul

U.S. public pension funds earn 10-year median return of 15.2% from private equity

Private equity produced a median annualized return of 15.2% over 10 years for U.S. public pension funds, according to a report by the American Investment Council, a private equity manager trade group. The AIC report examines the private equity investments of 200 U.S. public pension funds for the years December 2021 to December 2023, with most dates as of June 30, 2023. The U.S. public pension fund earning the highest private equity return was the $6.4 billion Vermont State Retirement Systems, with...

July 23, 2024
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22Jul

Blackstone joins KKR and BlackRock in Mexico private equity fundraising

Blackstone Group has raised $695 million (523.62 million pounds) from Mexican pension funds for its first two local private equity funds, filings showed, joining Black Rock and KKR & Co in expanding in Mexico following regulatory changes. Several of the world's top private equity managers have quietly raised billions of dollars from Mexican pension funds, known as afores, since new rules were enacted early last year, filings to the Mexican Stock Exchange and a non-public document reviewed by Reuters showed....

July 22, 2024
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22Jul

How U.S. pension funds help Putin’s gas gambit

Russia needs to ramp up liquefied natural gas exports to replenish Kremlin coffers and fund its war in Ukraine. Western pension funds may inadvertently be lending a hand. Data compiled by investigative consultancy Data Desk and the Anti-Corruption Data Collective show that public retirement funds, including those managed by the states of Washington, New York and California, have indirectly invested in the specialized ice-class carriers serving Russia’s Yamal LNG — the country’s largest active gas export terminal and a vital...

July 22, 2024
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19Jul

Dirty Air and Green Investments: The Impact of Pollution Information on Portfolio Allocations

By Raymond Fisman, Pulak Ghosh, Arkodipta Sarkar & Jian Zhang We study exposure to pollution information and investment portfolio allocations, exploiting the rollout of air quality monitoring stations in India. Using a triple-differences framework, we show that retail investors' investments in "brown" stocks are negatively related to local air pollution after a monitoring station appears nearby, with particularly pronounced effects on ``alert'' dates when air quality is listed as harmful to the general population. The effect of pollution information on...

July 19, 2024
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19Jul

King Charles III’s speech highlights U.K. retirement plans under new Labour government

King Charles III unveiled a “surprise” focus on the U.K.’s retirement market in his first King’s Speech — and the first under the new Labour government — on July 17, with the aim of strengthening investment by the country’s plans. In the speech, which outlines the government’s legislative agenda for the upcoming parliamentary year and sets out rules it aims to implement, the king said that “stability will be the cornerstone of my government’s economic policy and every decision will...

July 19, 2024
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