March 2023
15Mar

Sweden’s New $90 Billion Pension Plan: Non-ESG Funds Not Welcome

Sweden has announced a plan to promote Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) oriented companies through the targeted investment of its pension fund. One trillion Krona (90 billion USD) of pension savings will be allocated for investment into firms that abide by ESG standards. This plan is the most recent of a series of initiatives put in place by the Swedish pension system to contribute towards the fight against climate change, human rights and other pressing issues. The wave of societal contributions...

March 15, 2023
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14Mar

Pensions Lose Millions After Bank Collapse

Pensions across the globe have lost millions of dollars due to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). In the wake of SVB's Friday closure, several pension funds in the U.S. and two overseas have confirmed that they had investments in SVB stock that will likely be at a loss now that the bank has been shut down by federal regulators. Just before the weekend, a bank run sent the San Fransisco-based financial institution plunging into crisis as depositors made mass...

March 14, 2023
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13Mar

ESG, stable returns moving pension plans to real assets

Investing in agricultural land and agricultural activities is another area serving as a diversifier for DB plans in part due to heightened prices for grain and protein products, which in turn has boosted farm income to unprecedented levels, according to Mayssa Al Midani and Alex Howson, managers of the Pictet nutrition strategy, which invests in sustainable food production. The fund has $2.5 billion in assets under management. Though the returns are closely tied to the commodity cycle, the value of...

March 13, 2023
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09Mar

Does your public pension fund hold risky crypto-related investments? It can take a fight to find out.

In wake of FTX collapse, many questions, fewer answers about public plans' private holdings and who is benefiting from them. Crypto exposure is 'a canary in a coal mine.' Robin Rayfield had three minutes to speak. That wasn't much time for the 66-year-old Delta, Ohio, retired educator to raise his long list of concerns about the defined-benefit pension plan he relies on for his retirement income. It was December 2022, about a month after the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, and...

March 9, 2023
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08Mar

Diverse investment teams deliver outperformance – WTW

Greater gender diversity in an investment team can add 45 basis points per year in net excess returns, an analysis by Willis Towers Watson showed. The consultant's new research paper, Diversity in the asset management industry: on the right track, but at the wrong pace, analyzed investment strategies across equities, credit and real assets, and cover global, U.S. and other regions. Using diversity data as of Dec. 31, 2021, and net performance data as of Dec. 31, 2022, WTW looked at...

March 8, 2023
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06Mar

S.Korea pension fund ready to revive FX swap with cenbank

South Korea's National Pension Service (NPS), manager of the world's third-largest public pension fund, will collaborate with foreign exchange authorities when needed to help stabilise the market, its chairman told Reuters. Chairman Kim Tae-hyun also said during an interview on Friday with Reuters that re-establishing a currency swap arrangement with South Korea's central bank which expired at the end of last year could be part of such collaboration. NPS has nearly $700 billion under its management and needs to buy dollars...

March 6, 2023
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02Mar

Canada Pension Plan to invest in California oil venture alongside IKAV

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP) agreed on Tuesday to buy a 49% stake in Aera Energy, a California oil venture being acquired by German asset manager IKAV from Shell (SHEL.L) and Exxon (XOM.N). The venture, California's second-largest oil and gas producer, will invest in renewable energy to eventually power its operations, the institutional investor said. "Over time, renewable power will be deployed across Aera's land holdings, while selected legacy oil and gas infrastructure will be repurposed to create carbon capture...

March 2, 2023
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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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