August 2022

Canada. CPPIB returns -4.2% in quarter on equity market losses

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Toronto, returned a net -4.2% for the quarter ended June 30, the first quarter of its 2023 fiscal year, said a news release Thursday. CPPIB, which manages the assets of the Canada Pension Plan, said the pension fund's net assets totaled C$523 billion ($406.1 billion) as of June 30, down 3% from C$539 billion three months earlier. The C$16 billion quarterly decrease in net assets consisted of a net investment loss of C$23 billion and C$7...

Canada Pension Plan discloses billions in investments

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Toronto, reported a large number of investments and commitments it made in the first and second quarters of fiscal 2023, according to news release Thursday issued along with its results for its first fiscal quarter that ended June 30. CPP Investments, which manages the assets of the C$523 billion ($406.1 billion) Canada Pension Plan, said in the fiscal first quarter it closed a C$230 million investment in the term loans of Legal Search, a provider...

US. Tough markets hit active asset managers striving for turnarounds

Some active managers have none of the luck. They shook up senior teams, swapped out their bosses and merged to build scale. But their efforts to overcome the yearslong erosion of assets and profit as investors shift from actively managed funds into cheaper, index-tracking products just took another blow. The latest round of earnings reports offer a bruising read. Rising inflation, Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine and fears of a looming recession have dented investment performance, prompting investors to yank yet...

UK. Property a ‘risky’ investment for retirement pots

High interest rates and low capital growth could reduce retirement property pot savings by as much as 38 per cent, research by wealth manager Netwealth has found. While property investment has been a favoured option for boosting cash in retirement, the research found investment in additional properties or buy-to-let was usually outperformed by pensions. Analysis of different values of property growth, compared with the average pension projected growth over 20 years, showed property investment could significant reducing retirement pot savings by...

Dutch pension fund APG completes $600 million MaxCap agreement

Dutch pension fund APG has completed the $600 million mandate with non-bank lender MaxCap Group it agreed to three years ago and given itself the option to double that exposure to $1.2 billion, tapping the growing demand for funding at a time when banks are holding back. The asset manager has exercised the option it took out in 2019 to invest a second tranche of $300 million for first-mortgage loans across all real estate asset classes with MaxCap, which last year sold a...

Australia is a nation of ‘accidental investors’. Is it time for more scrutiny of the superannuation system?

Margaret Thatcher sought to convert Britain from a nation of shopkeepers to one of shareholders. Compulsory superannuation and low rates – until recently – on traditional bank deposits have converted most Australians into accidental investors. Beginning in the 1980s, retirement arrangements changed from defined benefits (an inflation-indexed pension based on your final salary, paid by employers or government in return for regular contributions) to defined contribution schemes (at retirement you receive your and the employer’s payments, plus investment returns). Today, Australian...

Investment results for 1Q of fiscal 2022(update report)

By GPIF Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) manages the public pension fund in the long term and its investment results should be assessed in the same manner. In addition to the annual report, which is legally required, GPIF publishes the quarterly update report to enhance the transparency to the public. Please note that returns, which are marked to market as of the end of each quarter, include unrealized gains and losses and are influenced by the market trends. Get the report here...

Pensions, Crypto, And Trust: Digital Assets And Retirement Funds

Retirement planning is the primary objective of retail investors. Indeed, 47% of respondents in the 2022 CFA Institute Investor Trust Study indicated saving for retirement was their most important investment goal. Yet the conventional pathway to retirement savings - the traditional stock and bond portfolio - is not as effective as it used to be. Weaker diversification, declining real returns, and rising inflation all present major challenges to both defined benefit and defined contribution (DC) pension funds. As funds struggle...

Green bonds poised for revival after shaky start to 2022 — report

Green bond issuance got off to a shaky start in 2022, but picked up in the second quarter, according to data from the Climate Bonds Initiative published on Thursday . The investor-focused non-profit organization promotes large-scale investment in the low-carbon economy. It screens self-labeled green bonds, including green, social, sustainability, sustainability-linked and transition labeled debt. In the first half of 2022, issuance of bonds aligned with international climate targets reached a combined volume of $417.8 billion, a 27% drop from the...

Kenya. Risk-averse pension schemes bag higher returns

Pension funds that eschew risk are reaping the benefits of their conservative approach to investments, outperforming their more aggressive peers whose returns are being dented by bigger exposure to underperforming equities and offshore assets. Conservative schemes, which on average allocate over 80 percent of their assets under management to risk-free, stable yielding government securities, recorded a return of 2.9 percent in the year to June 2022, industry analysis done by fund administrator Zamara shows. Schemes with a moderate approach to investment,...