March 2023
02Mar

US. How Environmentally Conscious Investing Became a Target of Conservatives

It’s been a widely accepted trend in financial circles for nearly two decades. But suddenly, Republicans have launched an assault on a philosophy that says that companies should be concerned with not just profits but also how their businesses affect the environment and society. More than $18 trillion is held in investment funds that follow the investing principle known as E.S.G. — shorthand for prioritizing environmental, social and governance factors — a strategy that has been adopted by major corporations...

March 2, 2023
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February 2023
27Feb

Kenya. Private firms to battle NSSF for new billions in pension

Private financial services firms are angling for a share of billions from enhanced pension contributions following the enactment of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) Act 2013. The implementation of the Act has unlocked billions of shillings under tier II contributions which have been opened to other pension funds apart from NSSF. An employer can choose to send second-tier NSSF contributions to a private scheme after remitting tier-one deductions to the state-owned fund. According to estimates seen by the Business Daily from...

February 27, 2023
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24Feb

U.S. Here’s how much 401(k) plans fell last year

Saving for retirement requires looking at the big picture, but it can be dispiriting when your 401(k) or other retirement plan takes a beating — a common plight for American workers last year, according to new data from Fidelity. The average balance in a 401(k) plan tumbled 20.5% in 2022, reducing employee nest eggs to $103,900 at the end of 2022, Fidelity said on Thursday. That compares with an average balance of $130,700 a year earlier, the financial services firm...

February 24, 2023
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23Feb

Nigeria: SEC to collaborate with PenCom in deepening commodities sector

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced plans to collaborate with the National Pension Commission (PenCom) on areas that would assist in further deepening the commodities ecosystem. Its Director-General, Mr Lamido Yuguda in a statement said this during a meeting between the commission’s management, the Lagos Futures and Commodities Exchange (LFCE) and PenCom held in Abuja. Yuguda was represented by Mr Ibrahim Boyi, Executive Commissioner Corporate Services of  SEC at the meeting. The director-general noted that SEC was passionate about the...

February 23, 2023
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16Feb

Denmark’s AkademikerPension takes on the banks financing fossil fuels

Denmark’s AkademikerPension, the member-owned pension fund for 150,000 academics, has just notched up another important milestone in its ambitious sustainability strategy. Pressure from the fund’s CIO and chief financial officer Anders Schelde on Denmark’s Dankse Bank contributed to the lender announcing plans to end new financing to oil and gas E&P companies that don’t have a credible transition plan in line with the Paris Agreement. Last year, Schelde stood up and challenged Dankse executives at the bank’s AGM, the only...

February 16, 2023
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15Feb

US. SEC Proposes Rule Making It Harder For Crypto Firms To Work With Hedge, Pension Funds

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is set to propose rule changes that would make it harder for crypto firms to be designated as "qualified custodians," Bloomberg reported. The new rules would allow crypto firms to hold client assets for money managers. While the proposed changes have not yet been released, they could make it more difficult for institutional funds that have invested in cryptocurrency to comply with regulatory requirements for holding client assets. These funds may need to move their...

February 15, 2023
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14Feb

US. Pension funds are sticking with bonds for the most part

Last year was rough for U.S. pension fund bond portfolios. With the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond index down 14.6% after a year of high volatility, investors had to look to other parts of their portfolios to bolster returns. For the defined benefit plans among the 200 largest plan sponsors in Pensions & Investments' survey, the evidence of that volatility is obvious in the data. A significant portion of the plans in the survey reported smaller bond portfolios as of Sept....

February 14, 2023
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10Feb

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board returns net 1.9% in latest quarter

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board returned a net 1.9% in the third quarter of fiscal 2023 ended Dec. 31, the Toronto-based board announced in a news release Thursday. For the five-year and 10-year periods through Dec. 31, the fund delivered annualized net returns of 8.1% and 10%, respectively. Neither benchmark returns nor returns for individual asset classes are not provided in quarterly returns. CPPIB, which manages the assets of the Canada Pension Plan, also said the pension fund's net assets increased to...

February 10, 2023
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08Feb

U.S. Anti-ESG bill could cut this State pension returns by $6.7 bln

Proposed legislation to limit the use of sustainable investment factors by fund managers of the U.S. state of Indiana could cut $6.7 billion from the investment returns of a public pension system there over a decade, a fiscal analysis shows. One such bill proposed in Indiana requires public pension system officials to act only in the fiduciary interests of participants and beneficiaries. According to a Feb. 4 "fiscal impact statement" prepared by the Indiana Legislative Services Agency, which advises lawmakers in...

February 8, 2023
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January 2023
31Jan

Push into illiquid assets exposes UK pension savers to higher fees

The UK government will relax rules shielding tens of millions of UK retirement savers from high charges as it aims to channel billions of pounds of pension fund cash into longer-term investments such as start-ups and infrastructure. The government on Monday confirmed plans to exempt performance fees from an annual 0.75 per cent cap on annual charges that can be levied on auto-enrolled pension savers. The cap has long been seen by the industry as a barrier for many “defined...

January 31, 2023
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