October 2025
03Oct

Venture & growth capital in Europe – mapping pension funds’ attitudes

By Pensions For Purpose Across Europe, pension funds manage over €3tn in assets, yet only roughly 0.12% is allocated to venture and growth capital (VC). Meanwhile, VC investment in Europe totalled €15bn in 2023. These numbers together highlight two persistent questions: can allocation to VC be compatible with the fiduciary duties of pension funds? If so, why has the historical aggregated allocation of pension funds to this asset class been so modest? To address these questions, we embarked on a journey...

October 3, 2025
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03Oct

UK and European pension funds laying the groundwork for VC surge

UK and European pension funds are laying the groundwork to become a more significant source of venture capital (VC) funding, according to a report from Venture Connections, European Women in VC and Pensions for Purpose, with Nordic pension funds the most active, despite growing momentum in the UK. The report, Mapping Pension Funds Attitudes to Venture & Growth in Europe, suggested that pension funds have the chance to help savers benefit and support long-term economic renewal, estimating that while only...

October 3, 2025
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03Oct

How ChatGPT Could Transform Your Retirement Planning for the Better

ChatGPT is ready for your retirement planning questions. It can provide answers on subjects such as deciding when to collect Social Security, estimating medical costs, and choosing which retirement accounts to tap first to minimize taxes. But should you trust artificial intelligence (AI) with your retirement planning? Here's what financial experts say. ChatGPT Can Lack Critical Thinking First off, ChatGPT doesn’t use critical thinking.1 For that, you’ll need a human financial advisor. “Remember that AI doesn’t currently think critically or form new ideas. It finds existing ideas...

October 3, 2025
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02Oct

Ghana ban on foreign investments for pension funds is counterproductive, funds say

Ghana's ban on its pension funds from offshore investments is curtailing their ability to hedge risks, executives said, as authorities seek to jumpstart the domestic bond market in the wake of its sovereign debt restructuring. The government in Accra blocked funds from putting workers' cash into offshore investments last year after concluding a restructuring of its local and foreign debts which decimated its local debt market - once a destination for major international asset managers like Franklin Templeton. The ban was designed to reduce pressure on...

October 2, 2025
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02Oct

Pension funds should invest in venture capital for climate benefits, argues report

Large European pension funds could support the development of new sustainable and digital products by investing in venture capital, argues a report by industry networks Venture Connections, European Women in VC and Pensions for Purpose. Pension funds could “channel billions into climate tech” and are “uniquely positioned to match the long timelines of the energy transition”, Pensions for Purpose chair and founder Karen Shackleton tells Sustainable Views. If European pension funds allocated 5 per cent of existing private equity investments to...

October 2, 2025
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September 2025
30Sep

Swiss pension fund defends oil and gas exposure despite political pushback

Pensionskasse des Kantons Schwyz (PKSZ), the CHF3bn (€3.2bn) pension fund of the Swiss canton of Schwyz, will continue to invest in oil and gas companies – including those operating in authoritarian regimes – arguing that greening the portfolio would damage returns. The canton’s government has rejected a motion tabled by members of the Social Democratic Party (SP) to amend the law governing the fund’s investments, which would have introduced sustainability criteria and excluded fossil fuel holdings. The executive council, led by...

September 30, 2025
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26Sep

2025 Individual Investor Survey: Welcome to the age of diminished expectations

By  Natixis Investment Managers Investors have been on an emotional roller coaster over the first 25 years of the 21st century. On the downside, they held on for dear life as the dotcom bubble, Global Financial Crisis, European debt crisis, Covid, and a historic bout of inflation played out in the headlines and their portfolios. But along with the losses, investors found compelling gains. A decade of record-low interest rates buoyed stocks, and the tech sector boomed. It was a thrill ride...

September 26, 2025
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26Sep

Optimization Algorithms for Pension Asset Allocation Under Market Volatility

By Akshay Sharma & Satish Kabade Pension fund organizations function as essential financial entities that protect employee retirement funds to provide complete and punctual pension distributions. Pension fund effectiveness through asset distribution determines how well a fund meets its future obligations. Traditional methods of portfolio optimization align with the Modern Portfolio Theory through the Markowitz model to help determine asset allocation by defining the relationship between return and risk. These static modeling approaches fail to fulfill their purpose in real...

September 26, 2025
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26Sep

US. Fewer people counting on a ‘miracle’ to retire comfortably

Americans are feeling more optimistic about their chances of a secure retirement — a lot more. A new study from Natixis Investment Managers shows the number of U.S. investors who believe it will “take a miracle” to achieve retirement security dropped to 21% in 2025, a major change from 39% in 2023 This big swing in attitude is largely attributed to the excellent performance of the stock market lately. The S&P 500 has delivered two back-to-back years of returns over 20%,...

September 26, 2025
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25Sep

We need to harness pensions to progress the SDGs and economic prosperity

A decade after their adoption, the UN Sustainable Development Goals still need trillions of dollars of investment. Ten years ago today, the UN Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by 193 states at the UN General Assembly in New York. Celebrities from Beyoncé to Stephen Hawking and Malala backed the launch. The then-US President Barack Obama called it a historic achievement. He also warned that emerging and developing nations, “don’t just want aid, they want trade. They want businesses. They want investment”. In...

September 25, 2025
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