April 2020

Pension Fund Industry in Mexico: Analyzing the S&P/BMV Mexico Target Risk Index Series across Different Economic Crises

By Jaime Merino This article is reprinted from the Indexology blog of S&P Dow Jones Indices. It is unnecessary to give an update on today’s economic situation since most already have a wealth of information over the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic. I will instead focus on another major concern: how have pension funds performed, and furthermore, are there similarities in how they have performed during other crises? After the S&P/BMV IPC dropped 16.38% from its highest monthly return posted...

Tesla appoints former head of Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund to its board

Tesla has appointed Hiromichi (Hiro) Mizuno, former head of Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund, to the board of directors. Today, Tesla announced that its board has authorized the number of directors on the Board of Directors to increase from nine to 10 in order to appoint Mizuno. Mizuno was executive managing director and chief investment officer of Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund until last month. He was recently praised by Tesla CEO Elon Musk when he...

Australia. 500 firms to stop pension top-ups over coronavirus

Hundreds of companies are expected to abandon attempts to fill shortfalls in their pension schemes during the coronavirus crisis. The finding from pension experts suggests "top-up" contributions will be cut by at least £500m. Debenhams has already missed a payment and the Arcadia group, which owns Topshop, plans to stop them temporarily. Regulators are permitting the suspensions to help businesses survive. The pension schemes affected are the most valuable for staff because they guarantee a retirement income based on...

India. No deduction in pension amid COVID-19 outbreak: Union Government

The Union government in its latest order has said that there will be no deductions in pension. The government clarified that it is not planning anything of this sort. As per the latest reports, India has witnessed more than 15000 cases and 507 deaths due to the deadly coronavirus. Meanwhile, 2231 COVID-19 patients have recovered. The entire nation is under lockdown till May 3 to combat the deadly coronavirus. Read More @News.abplive

Canada’s Pension Funds Prepare for Post-Virus World

Ontario Municipal Employment Retirement System has put a team in place to analyze what the world will look like in the post-pandemic era. The C$109 billion ($77 billion) pension fund is weighing everything from what it’ll look like when people go back to work to how different companies in its portfolio will fare, Blake Hutcheson said in a Canadian Club of Toronto virtual roundtable. “Sadly, some of our companies won’t make it, it’s just a fact,” said Hutcheson, who...

Public pension funds shouldn’t wait for a return to ‘normal’

By Anthony Randazzo The past few weeks have seen America’s leaders wrestle with the human costs of inaction in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. And in the next few months, state and local leaders will have to step up again and act decisively to avoid the financial effects of this pandemic from creating long-term damage to their public sector retirement systems. Unlike the demographics most vulnerable to succumbing to the physical effects of the virus, those with the biggest cause...

Cost and past performance 2020 report

By EIOPA The European Insurance and Occupations Pensions Authority (EIOPA), has today published its second report on cost and past performance of insurance-based investments products (IBIPs) and personal pension products (PPPs) in the European Union. The report is published following a request from the European Commission to the European Supervisory Authorities to periodically report on the costs and past performance of retail investment products. This report provides an analysis of costs for 2018 and past performance for the period...

United Arab Emirates. Coronavirus: Private companies can postpone pension payments over next three months

The Abu Dhabi Pension Fund on Tuesday announced that private sector companies in the emirate can apply to postpone paying pensions over the next three months. The decision, which was passed by the group’s board of directors, is open to 1,154 private entities that are registered to the fund, with those companies able to submit their application for postponed payments electronically through the fund’s online portal. According to the fund, 8,765 citizens are also registered with the fund. “The...

March 2020

Swedish pension giant splits investment efforts and names new leaders

Swedish pension giant AP7 has restructured its investment team to split it into three new units, the Stockholm-based group has announced. A spokesperson for the institutional investor, which has $50bn (SEK 525bn) in assets under management, confirmed to Citywire Selector that its investment capabilities are now split as follows: risk management and asset allocation; alternative investments; and, fixed income and forex segments. According to AP7’s chief investment officer, Ingrid Albinsson, the split was implemented to strengthen the capabilities of...

South Africa. Use pension funds for coronavirus relief efforts – unions

South Africa’s biggest labor-union federation and a key political ally of president Cyril Ramaphosa is pushing the government to tap state institutions for a stimulus plan to combat the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak. The Congress of South African Trade Unions, which represents about 1.8 million workers ranging from miners to teachers, wants state companies such as the Public Investment Corp, which oversees government pensions, to provide relief to hard-hit industries including hospitality, manufacturing and mining. It’s also seeking...