November 2017

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
News, Slider
Read more...

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
News, Slider
Read more...

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
News, Slider
Read more...

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
News
Read more...

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
News, Slider
Read more...
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
News, Slider
Read more...
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
News, Slider
Read more...

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
News, Slider
Read more...
02Jun

Japan’s GPIF Pension Fund Sues Toshiba Auditor Over Investment Losses

Japan's giant Government Investment Pension Fund (GPIF) has sued the local affiliate of global accounting firm Ernst & Young, claiming $31 million for losses on investments in Toshiba Corp stemming from the conglomerate's accounting scandal in 2015. Toshiba has been on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's supervision list since mid-March as it has failed to clear up concerns about its internal controls after the $1.3 billion accounting scandal. That scandal preceded the crisis now engulfing Toshiba over billions of dollars in...

June 2, 2017
News
Read more...

April 2017

13Apr

Yield-seeking Japanese investors seen helping to fund global real assets

Traditionally conservative Japanese investors are eyeing higher-yielding investments such as global infrastructure and real estate after a prolonged period of low economic growth and yields, according to analysis from Australia-based AMP Capital. With AUM of about 500 trillion yen (US$4.4 trillion), the Japanese institutional investment market “represents a substantial source of capital for investment into real assets across the globe”, the company says in a statement on Tuesday (April 11). According to Toshiaki Yamashita, Japan-based managing director of AMP Capital, Japanese...

April 13, 2017
News
Read more...