May 2026
15May

Private Climate Governance of Finance: “Net Zero” Prospects and Politics

By Cynthia A. Williams In 2021, as part of the COP26 climate negotiations in Glasgow, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (“GFANZ”) was announced. This Alliance of banks, asset managers, and insurance companies, among other financial institutions, with more than $130 trillion of assets under management when announced, was based on a pledge by the participating companies to work towards net-zero status in their businesses by 2050 or sooner. Led by former UK Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, who is now the U.N.’s Special Envoy...

May 15, 2026
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14May

Just two of the world’s top financial institutions have commitments to phase out fossil fuels

Only two of the world’s 400 largest financial institutions have ‘robust commitments’ in place to phase out fossil fuels, new analysis from the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) has found. According to the WBA’s Financial System Climate Assessment, around one third of the assessed firms have ‘initial signs of transition planning towards a low-carbon economy’, including setting metrics and targets to drive and monitor progress, or embedding transition planning within governance structures. However, just 26% were found to have transition plans that cover financed activities, rather than focusing...

May 14, 2026
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13May

US. Labor unions oppose Senate crypto bill ahead of Thursday committee markup: report

Five labor organizations urged the U.S. Senate to oppose the pending crypto market structure bill, warning that the legislation would expose worker retirement accounts to cryptocurrency volatility. The opposing groups include the AFL-CIO, Service Employees International Union, American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association, and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, CNBC reported Tuesday. According to CNBC, SEIU, AFT, NEA, and AFSCME wrote in a previously unreported May 9 letter that the bill “jeopardizes the stability of workers’ retirement plans, including...

May 13, 2026
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12May

Private credit is cracking, but pension funds aren’t blinking

Close to US$300bn flowed into private credit vehicles from institutional investors in 2025, and the money keeps coming — despite the sector's most turbulent stretch in years. Major pension systems are not just holding their private credit allocations; several are actively expanding them. Europe's largest pension investor, Dutch manager APG, plans to raise its private markets exposure above 30 percent of assets and could increase its private debt allocation to between 2 and 4 percent from roughly 1.5 percent currently, according to Reuters. In the...

May 12, 2026
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11May

Goldman Sachs Retirement Survey 2025: Retirement Could Cost $2.5 Million by 2043, and Most Americans Are Not Saving Fast Enough to Keep Up

Goldman Sachs estimates the total cost of retirement will reach $2.57M by 2043, up from $1.75M in 2033, driven by 4% annual spending growth and retirement duration expanding to 21 years as households age 65+ now spend ~$122K annually versus $60K in 2000. Essential costs like housing (21% to 36% of income), childcare (10% to 25%), college (9% to 33% for private), and healthcare (12% to 33%) have squeezed savings capacity, with 67% of workers reporting too many...

May 11, 2026
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08May

Iran Conflict: How Long, and How Bad?

By Goldman Sachs The unprecedented US and Israeli coordinated attack on Iran has resulted in the largest energy supply disruption in history. With seemingly no end to the conflict in sight, its potential duration, impact on global energy supplies, and economic and market implications are Top of Mind. Chatham House’s Sanam Vakil and longtime US Middle East advisor Dennis Ross agree that an end to the conflict doesn’t look imminent owing to (the lack of) incentives on Iran’s side and...

May 8, 2026
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08May

Pension Systems, Demographic Aging, and the Home Bias Puzzle: Global Evidence

By Brian Peters This paper tests whether pension system growth mediates the relationship between demographic aging and cross-border portfolio diversification. Using a panel of up to 188 countries from 1990 to 2024, we find that demographic aging robustly predicts pension system growth (Z₁ = +69.2***, p = 0.0002, N = 1,225, 42 countries), establishing the first stage of the mediation chain. However, pension fund growth does not uniformly translate into changes in external portfolio allocation: the second stage (pension spending...

May 8, 2026
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07May

Geopolitical conflict wipes out R200 billion in South African pension funds

The war in Iran revealed that South African pension funds are over-exposed to geopolitical events, which is forcing some of the country’s biggest funds to rethink their investment strategy. This is the feedback from Frans Baleni, chair of the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), who noted that the fund took a major hit from the war in the Middle East. Speaking in an interview with Moneyweb Radio, Baleni said the GEPF had built a strong track record of protecting public servants’ retirement...

May 7, 2026
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07May

Canadian DB pension plans return 0.4% in Q1 2026 amid geopolitical tensions: report

The typical Canadian defined benefit pension plan posted a median return of 0.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2026, according to a new report by RBC Investor Services. It found Canadian equity allocations returned 3.9 per cent in the quarter, matching the TSX composite index. Energy led sector gains with a 30.1 per cent surge following the Strait of Hormuz closure, while materials rose strongly early in the period, pulled back significantly in March and finished with a...

May 7, 2026
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April 2026
29Apr

Crypto-assets and decentralised finance. Report on stablecoins, crypto-investment products and multifunction groups : October 2025

By European Systemic Risk Board Financial stability risks are mounting in 2025 as crypto-assets, including stablecoins, go mainstream, buoyed by forceful US policy measures. By mid-2025, the crypto-asset market had reached record valuations, largely driven by US pro-crypto policies aimed at boosting demand for US Treasuries and reinforcing the dollar’s dominance. In this context, the ESRB’s General Board noted in June 2025 that the growing links between the crypto sector and the financial sector should be closely monitored. It also voiced...

April 29, 2026
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