December 2017

13Dec

Japan’s public pension fund to adopt performance-based fees

The biggest public pension fund in the world will change the way it pays fees to investment managers in fiscal 2018, with an eye toward creating an incentive for them to boost returns. Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund, or GPIF, currently pays fees based on the amount of assets overseen by each managing firm -- applying a predetermined percentage rate to the value of assets under management. Actively managed funds, in which investment managers pick and choose assets to achieve...

December 13, 2017
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November 2017

03Nov

British Insurer Legal & General to Launch Japan Operation-CEO

British’s third-largest insurer, Legal & General (LGEN.L), is launching an operation in Japan to offer company pension scheme insurance and investment management, Chief Executive Nigel Wilson said on Thursday. The move by L&G comes as European peers such as Allianz (ALVG.DE) and Aviva (AV.L) have scaled back from other Asian markets such as Taiwan. The $21 billion (16.09 billion pounds) company, which manages 1 trillion pounds in assets in its fund arm, has sold a number of its European businesses in...

November 3, 2017
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02Nov

World’s Biggest Pension Fund Adds $39 Billion as Stocks Rise

The world’s biggest pension fund posted its fifth-straight quarterly gain, the longest run in more than two years, as global stocks advanced to new highs and weakness in the yen helped boost the value of overseas investments.  Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund returned 3 percent, or 4.5 trillion yen ($39 billion), in the three months ended Sept. 30, increasing assets to a record 156.8 trillion yen, it said in Tokyo on Thursday. Domestic equities added 1.8 trillion yen as the...

November 2, 2017
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October 2017

24Oct

After election win, Abe prioritizes aging Japan

Fresh off a decisive election victory, Japan’s leader pledged Monday to tackle what he called Japan’s two national crises: the military threat from North Korea and an aging and shrinking population. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at a news conference that he is committed to protect the Japanese people’s prosperity and peace from any contingency. He also referred to Japanese people who were abducted years ago and are believed to still be held by North Korea. “I will pursue decisive and...

October 24, 2017
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September 2017

29Sep

Japan reappoints giant pension fund GPIF chief Takahashi

Japan’s government on Friday said it has reappointed Norihiro Takahashi as chief of the world’s largest pension fund, Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF). Takahashi, 59, was first appointed as the head of the $1.3 trillion fund in April last year. He is a former executive at Norinchukin Bank, a major Japanese global institutional investor, and has expertise in fixed income management. His new term begins on Oct. 1 and runs through March 2020. In 2014, GPIF made a historic shift by...

September 29, 2017
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August 2017

01Aug

Japan’s ageing society prompts redefinition of the term ‘elderly’

An early advocate of healthy living to stave off ageing-related illnesses, Shigeaki Hinohara, a Japanese doctor, saw patients until just months before bidding farewell to this world at the age of 105, last month. In 1954, Hinohara introduced comprehensive annual physical tests, part of the preventive medical system said to contribute to Japanese people's longevity. A fast-ageing society, Japan has the highest percentage of senior citizens in the world－more than a quarter of its population is aged 65 or above. Japan...

August 1, 2017
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July 2017

21Jul

Japan’s defined-benefit pension funds boost exposure to alternatives

Japan’s defined-benefit (DB) pension funds are rebalancing their portfolios to raise exposure to alternatives and reduce the weighting of domestic bonds in the current negative interest rate environment, according to a survey by JP Morgan Asset Management (JPMAM). The domestic bond holdings of Japanese DB pension funds fell to an eight-year low of 27.9% in the 2016 fiscal year ended March 31, 2017, from 29.8% in the previous year, JPMAM says in a July 19 statement on the survey findings. Meanwhile,...

July 21, 2017
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07Jul

Japan. World’s Biggest Pension Fund Has Best Performance in 2 Years

The world’s biggest pension fund posted its best annual gain in two years, as Japanese and overseas stocks rose while government bonds slid. The Government Pension Investment Fund returned 5.9 percent, or 7.9 trillion yen ($70 billion), in the year ended March 31, increasing assets to a record 144.9 trillion yen, it said in Tokyo on Friday. That’s the biggest advance since the fiscal year ended March 31, 2015, when it had its best annual performance on record. Domestic equities...

July 7, 2017
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03Jul

Japan’s GPIF says allocated 1 trillion yen to ethical investments

Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), the world's largest pension fund, said on Monday it has allocated 1 trillion yen ($8.9 billion) of funds to socially responsible investments. That represents about 3 percent of its Japanese stocks portfolio and, in the medium term, the fund could increase its investment in companies that have good ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) practices, the fund said. Market players said the allocation change by the mammoth fund with total assets of 144 trillion yen ($1.3...

July 3, 2017
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June 2017

27Jun

Japan. One Pension Fund Manager Is Going Against the Grain

In the $870 billion world of Japan Inc. employee pension funds, he’s known as the unusual idealist who’s long danced to his own tune. Hiroichi Yagi filled the Secom Corporate Pension Fund with stocks when his peers hid in bonds, considering it his duty to support Japanese equities. He embraced environmental, social and governance investing as a way to reduce volatility. And he signed Japan’s stewardship code for institutional investors right at the start, making Secom the only corporate pension...

June 27, 2017
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