December 2022
29Dec

U.S. New York Raises Cap on Pensions’ Private Equity, Hedge Fund Assets

New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill on Friday that allows the state’s and New York City’s pensions to increase allocations to more expensive and opaque asset classes like private equity that could potentially deliver higher returns. The bill raises the cap on alternative assets — which also include hedge funds, private real estate and direct loans to companies — as well as foreign stocks, to 35% from 25%. Boosting the limit will allow pensions, including the $233 billion...

December 29, 2022
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27Dec

Inflation, war, rising interest rates posed steep challenges for investors in 2022

An inflationary environment that is anything but transitory, the volatility arising from Russia's invasion of Ukraine and other geopolitical crises, and a bevy of controversies surrounding ESG investing dominated headlines this year, while the fall of Allianz Global Investors and an exceptionally busy regulatory year were also among Pensions & Investments' top 10 stories of 2022. The top story this year was inflation and the Federal Reserve's aggressive actions to curb it through multiple interest rate hikes. After more than...

December 27, 2022
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22Dec

How schemes can enjoy the blooming of biodiversity bonds

Analysis: With the world’s nations reaching a historic agreement to preserve global biodiversity at COP15 in Montreal, attention is inevitably turning to how businesses can uphold the commitment to protect 30 per cent of the planet’s land and sea. Financing biodiversity projects has long been a sticking point for institutions. The International Finance Corporation describes a “lack of guidance in the market on criteria for projects eligible for this kind of financing”, resulting in a “gap” between investors’ ambitions and...

December 22, 2022
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21Dec

5 Takeaways on the State of ESG Investing

ESG investing is hot. But what does it actually deliver for society and for shareholders? For the past several years or so, major funds, managers, and institutional investors have been stocking their portfolios with investments in firms that claim to be engaged in positive environmental, social, and governance (ESG) activities. On the websites of actively managed funds, investors show giant banners touting a commitment to invest in firms working to make the world a better, safer place, says Aaron Yoon, assistant...

December 21, 2022
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19Dec

Ghana. Debt Exchange Programme Extended to December Ending

The expiration date of the Debt Exchange Programme (DEP) has been extended to the end of December this year, the Ministry of Finance, has announced. It said in view of the of the festive season, the government had decided to extend the Expiration Date of the voluntary offer to Friday December 30, 2022, with a contemplated settlement date on Friday January 6th, 2023. The voluntary programme should have expired today December 19, 2022. A statement issued by the Ministry of Finance in...

December 19, 2022
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16Dec

South Korea pension fund opens up FX hedging limit to maximum 10%

South Korea's mammoth state pension fund will hedge foreign exchange risks for up to 10% of its overseas investment compared with zero up to now, the welfare ministry said on Friday, a move expected to ease dollar demand on the onshore FX market. The fund has grown in size and its increasing purchases of dollars for investment abroad have been blamed for exacerbating the dollar/won's already rising trend in recent months. South Korea's currency hit its weakest level in 13...

December 16, 2022
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15Dec

Regulators set sights on hedge funds after UK pension crisis

Britain's markets watchdog is working with overseas regulators to look at other stresses in the global financial system, such as leveraged hedge funds, its chief executive said on Wednesday, following a pensions crisis in late September. A radical tax-cutting budget in September by former Prime Minister Liz Truss's government triggered a jump in British government bond yields, which forced defined benefit, or final salary pension schemes to raise cash quickly to meet margin calls on liability-driven investment (LDI) derivatives positions....

December 15, 2022
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14Dec

Climate change could cost pension funds billions, EU watchdog says

Pension funds across the European Union would lose billions of euros from their investments in polluting industries without action to mitigate the impact of climate change, the bloc's first stress test of its kind showed on Tuesday. The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) said its test covered 187 pension funds from 18 EU member states with more than 1.98 trillion euros ($2 trillion) of assets, or 65% of assets in defined benefit and defined contribution schemes. The funds were...

December 14, 2022
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13Dec

UK. TPR calls for trustees to increase investment decision skills

Trustees should take advantage of available support and guidance to increase their skills in relation to investment decisions, The Pensions Regulator (TPR) executive director of policy, analysis and advice, David Fairs, has said. In a blog post, Fairs argued that defined contribution (DC) pension scheme trustees should take action to enable pension savers access to the investment opportunities that best support good outcomes. Fairs suggested that while DC trustees are at a fork in the road on their DC journey, “the...

December 13, 2022
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13Dec

Vanguard defends strategy as critics pile on after net-zero exit

Vanguard Group is under pressure to reassure stakeholders that it still cares about the climate, after becoming the target of fierce criticism from high-profile environmental advocates including Al Gore. The former U.S. vice president, who now chairs Generation Investment Management, called Vanguard's decision to quit the world's biggest climate-finance alliance "irresponsible and shortsighted." Mr. Gore also suggested the asset manager, which oversees $7.1 trillion in client funds, was out of step with the zeitgeist. It's a sentiment that was echoed by...

December 13, 2022
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