September 2019

06Sep

It’s Going to Get Harder for Australian Pension Funds to Make Money

Australia’s pension funds will be forced to push more money into less traditional assets -- such as apartment developments and even direct lending to companies -- after the strong recent performance of equities and fixed-income left valuations lofty in public markets. That’s the assessment of investors managing money directly for, or on behalf of, the country’s A$2.9 trillion ($2 trillion) pension pool, who gathered in Hobart this week. With four out of five retirement savers in funds that have a...

September 6, 2019
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05Sep

South Africa. How SA Can Create a Safe and Sustainable Environment for Retirement

Socially responsible investing is a topic that still does not get the necessary attention in the retirement fund industry. This is despite the fact that Boards of Trustees and Management Committees of retirement funds have a clear fiduciary duty in this regard. Corporate failures related to a lack of proper governance have destroyed close to R800 billion in value for retirement fund members in recent times. Uncertainties related to government policies such as prescribed assets have become an additional...

September 5, 2019
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04Sep

Giant Norway pension fund weighs Brazil divestment over Amazon deforestation

KLP, Norway’s largest pension fund, with over US$80 billion in assets, is saying it may divest from transnational commodities traders operating in Brazil such as Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Bunge and Cargill, if they work with producers who contribute to deforestation. KLP has $50 million in shares and loans with the firms. KLP is also reaching out to other investors to lobby them to use their financial influence to curb Amazon deforestation via supply chains. On August 28, Nordea,...

September 4, 2019
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04Sep

Secrets to Success in Managing a Pension Fund

How often does it happen that a public pension fund chooses someone to manage its money — and then sticks with that person for 43 years? Only one streak I know of has lasted this long. The Atlanta-based investment counseling firm Bowen, Hanes and Company Inc., run by Jay Bowen, has received national acclaim for its long tenure overseeing the Tampa Fire and Police Pension Fund. Bowen, who is both chief executive and chief investment officer of his firm,...

September 4, 2019
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03Sep

How the Mexican pensions sector plans to tackle a national demographic shift

As demographic shifts and technological innovations disrupt the Mexican pensions sector, industry leaders are seizing the opportunity to create a more sustainable and profitable future Linking the US with Central America, the expansive country of Mexico is the world’s 15th-largest economy and the second biggest in Latin America. Despite ongoing uncertainty surrounding the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Mexican economy has shown remarkable resilience of late, with the IMF expecting the nation to post a steady growth rate...

September 3, 2019
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03Sep

Top 20 pension funds’ AUM declines for first time in seven years

Assets under management (AUM) at the world's 300 largest pension funds fell in value by 0.4% to a total of US$18 trillion in 2018, in sharp contrast to an increase of 15.1% in 2017, according to the latest World 300 research from the Thinking Ahead Institute. The research, conducted in conjunction with Pensions & Investments, a leading U.S. investment newspaper, shows that the value of the top 20 pension funds' AUM fell by 1.6% in 2018, equating to 40.7%...

September 3, 2019
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03Sep

South Korea. Stalled reform

After 10 months of discussion, a committee on national pension reform last week suggested three options, all of which fall short of ensuring the long-term sustainability of the pension scheme, now under increasing strain. Differences in views between labor and business representatives barred the panel formed in October under the Economic, Social and Labor Council from working out a single proposal. The first option calls for freezing the income replacement rate, which is set to be lowered to 40...

September 3, 2019
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August 2019
23Aug

Wealth: The Ultra-High Net Worth Guide to Growing and Protecting Assets

By Richard P. Rojeck With few exceptions, books on personal finance focus on investing. And with few exceptions, these same books focus on the general public. This book takes a comprehensive approach to the subject, directed to the ultra-high net worth reader, filling this void. While there is no shortage of experts in legal, tax, investment, and other matters, in many ways, ultra-high net worth individuals are underserved, even as they are confronted with potentially increasing challenges...

August 23, 2019
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June 2019

28Jun

Switching Costs and Competition in Retirement Investment

By Fernando Luco How do different switching costs affect choices and competition in a private pension system? I answer this question in a setting in which variation in employment status allows me to identify two switching costs that jointly affect enrollees’ decisions: the cost of evaluating financial information and the cost of the bureaucratic process that enrollees must navigate when switching. I use this variation to estimate the different switching costs and study their impact on competition among pension...

June 28, 2019
Adequacy, Articles, Investing, System Sustainability,
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April 2019

08Apr

Liability-Driven Investment: From Analogue to Digital, Pensions to Robo-Advice

By Dan Tammas-Hastings Understand the investment template that dominates the pension industry Liability-Driven Investment is the practitioner's guide to this increasingly popular investment template. Already the dominant framework for pension schemes in Europe and the UK, the LDI market is expected to grow significantly with the shift from Defined Benefit to Defined Contribution, and then into Digital Asset Management -- or Robo-Advice. With an aging population and significant under-saving globally, more and more finance professionals will need to know how to work...

April 8, 2019
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