July 2025
25Jul

Sustainable funds see global recovery, driven by European investors

Global sustainable funds have made a comeback, marking a notable improvement from the outflows seen in the previous quarter, according to data published today. The latest global figures published by Morningstar show that global ESG funds recorded an estimated net $4.9bn (€4.16bn) in the second quarter of 2025. This recovery was driven by European investors, with ESG funds drawing $8.6bn of net inflows over the past three months, after redeeming $7.3bn in the prior quarter, the firm said. This rebound comes after...

July 25, 2025
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24Jul

Global pension assets reach US$61.5 trillion in 2024: report

Pension assets grew to US$61.5 trillion by the end of 2024, with a nominal growth rate of 8.5 per cent since the end of 2023, according to a new report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The final tally for 2024 beat the previous record of $59.7 trillion in 2021, due to significant investment gains seen in equity holdings. However, the report found assets equivalent to 92 per cent of gross domestic product in U.S. dollars was down...

July 24, 2025
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22Jul

US. New York State Pension Bulks Up on Private Equity in $3B Spree

New York’s $273 billion state pension fund is bulking up on private equity investments, earmarking more than $1.4 billion toward the asset class in March alone, according to its monthly transaction report. The spree comes after the New York State Common Retirement Fund committed about $500 million during the previous three months combined. The allocations to private equity investments accounted for nearly half of the $3.1 billion commitments doled out by the NYSCRF in March. The largest of those was a $500 million commitment to the...

July 22, 2025
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22Jul

UK. Most pension schemes not making use of impact reports in investment decisions

Whilst most UK pension schemes are receiving impact reports, very few are reading them closely or using them to guide investment decisions, research from Pensions for Purpose has revealed. The report, commissioned by Impact Frontiers, revealed that although the UK’s impact investing market is growing fast, expanding over 10 per cent annually between 2021 and 2023, many institutional investors remain unsure how to use impact data meaningfully. According to the report, whilst most pension funds assess whether their managers produce impact...

July 22, 2025
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16Jul

PRT Market Momentum Expected to Continue

Pension risk transfers will be among the fastest-growing product lines in the life insurance sector, J.P.Morgan Chase & Co. found in its June 27 “North America Equity Research” report. According to the firm, many U.S. private sector employers that froze and/or closed their defined benefit pension plans as a benefit for employees more than a decade ago still have legacy plans, totaling $3.2 trillion in assets. Many firms have shifted their DB liabilities to insurers through PRT transactions. The PRT market...

July 16, 2025
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11Jul

The Pensions Review: final recommendations

By Jonathan Cribb, Carl Emmerson, Paul Johnson, Heidi Karjalainen & Laurence O’Brien This final report of the Pensions Review, a major project launched in April 2023 by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, in partnership with abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, examines the main risks to today’s working-age individuals in the UK pension system and sets out policy proposals primarily focused on improving outcomes for future generations of retirees. This report does further analysis and draws on the large number of reports...

July 11, 2025
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09Jul

Demand for pension risk transfer deals increases around the world

Morningstar DBRS has taken note of the pension risk transfer (PRT) market globally in a new commentary report published July 7. In it, they discuss the skepticism some plan members in the United States have about the deals (and the resulting lawsuits) and the regulatory attention being paid to such deals in the United Kingdom. In Canada they note a jump in market volumes in 2024, saying they anticipate demand for such deals will remain steady. “With life expectancy trending higher...

July 9, 2025
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08Jul

Germany’s 34.1 billion euros pension gives mandate to China stock fund

A German pension fund has tapped a Chinese firm’s Hong Kong arm to help it invest in local stocks, in a rare move among global allocators that have been cautious about gaining exposure to the nation’s equities. KZVK, which manages 34.1 billion euros (S$51 billion), gave US$50 million to Fullgoal Asset Management (HK) in the second quarter, according to sources with knowledge of the matter. The mandate is to invest in Chinese equities listed in Hong Kong, the mainland and...

July 8, 2025
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04Jul

UK. European insurance giant acquires Pension Insurance Corporation in £5.7bn deal

Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC), the specialist bulk annuity provider, has been acquired by European insurance giant Athora in a deal worth an estimated £5.7bn. It will become the UK insurance business for Athora, which has existing presences in Belgium, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. The acquisition is a significant boost for Athora as it will increase its assets under management and administration to more than €130bn (£112bn). At the end of 2024, PIC was responsible for almost £51bn of assets and...

July 4, 2025
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03Jul

PLSA rebrands to Pensions UK as part of fresh five-year strategy

The pensions industry’s trade body has rebranded itself as Pensions UK following a detailed review of its strategy, and set out a plan to expand its reach and influence over the next five years. Pensions UK, as the organisation will now be known, was previously the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA), a name it adopted 10 years ago. Announcing the new brand and strategy at an event last night (1 July) in London, Emma Douglas, chair of Pensions UK, said...

July 3, 2025
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