May 2026
08May

Pension Systems, Demographic Aging, and the Home Bias Puzzle: Global Evidence

By Brian Peters This paper tests whether pension system growth mediates the relationship between demographic aging and cross-border portfolio diversification. Using a panel of up to 188 countries from 1990 to 2024, we find that demographic aging robustly predicts pension system growth (Z₁ = +69.2***, p = 0.0002, N = 1,225, 42 countries), establishing the first stage of the mediation chain. However, pension fund growth does not uniformly translate into changes in external portfolio allocation: the second stage (pension spending...

May 8, 2026
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07May

UK. TPR outlines vision for megafunds and simplified pensions market by 2036

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) chief executive, Nausicaa Delfas, has said the UK workplace pensions market could look “very different” by 2036, with a smaller number of large pension megafunds, greater consolidation and more scheme-led retirement solutions becoming the norm. Speaking at the Eversheds Sutherland UK Pensions Conference, Delfas said the pensions market was currently undergoing “the biggest changes in pensions since the introduction of auto-enrolment”. Setting out her vision for the future of the UK pensions system, Delfas said she expected to...

May 7, 2026
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April 2026
29Apr

Market Turmoil Sparked by Iran War Wiped Out $233B in Public Pension Funding

A 3.5% aggregated investment loss spurred by war in the Middle East wiped $233 billion from the 100 largest U.S. public pension plans in March, dropping their funded levels to 83.7% from 87% in February, according to actuarial and consulting firm Milliman. It was the first time the dataset recorded investment losses in more than a year, and it halted the progress of the aggregate funded level’s steady rise from almost 80% funded 12 months earlier. Milliman estimated that individual...

April 29, 2026
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29Apr

Australia. Solving the $326 billion ‘stranded’ pension asset problem

More than 1.5 million Australians aged 65 and over have left money sitting in superannuation accumulation phase, paying tax at 15 per cent on investment earnings when they could be in the tax-free pension phase and receiving higher retirement income. A dialogue paper published by the Actuaries Institute, It’s Time: Here’s How to Turn Superannuation into a Retirement Income System, puts the aggregate value of those “stranded” balances at $326 billion. the additional tax cost to those individuals exceeds $2 billion...

April 29, 2026
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27Apr

Analysis-Brazil shackles public pension funds after Banco Master meltdown

Brazil’s biggest bank failure in recent history has led to an aggressive crackdown on public pension funds, which were among its creditors, limiting their portfolios in ways that could make it harder to hit their long-term targets. The new restraints for public pension funds, which manage some $73 billion in Brazil, are part of the widening fallout from the liquidation of Banco Master, with consequences for politicians, a state-run lender and even central bankers. Although Master was not considered a systemic...

April 27, 2026
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16Apr

UK. The birth of the buy-in: Reflections on 20 years of pension risk transfer

Buy-ins are now well-established and regularly dominate the headlines in the pensions press. But that has not always been the case. Take yourself back to March 2006. A small group of us at LCP was contemplating what the recent launch of a wave of new insurers seeking approval to write bulk annuities could mean for defined benefit (DB) schemes. We saw potential benefit for trustees and sponsors, and so our pension risk transfer practice was born. Today, we have a thriving...

April 16, 2026
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15Apr

Major Australian pension fund mulls crypto offerings amid growing demand

Hostplus, Australia's third-largest pension fund by member count, is reportedly considering offering cryptocurrencies as an investment option, citing interest from its members in the asset class. “There’s certainly a demand from some of our members who write in and say, ‘Why can’t I have access to cryptocurrency?’” Sam Sicilia, the fund's chief investment officer, told Bloomberg on Monday. Investment offerings in crypto could be available as soon as next financial year, he said, with Bitcoin and other digital assets offered through its...

April 15, 2026
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09Apr

Most U.S. Public Pensions Underuse Proxy Voting to Manage Climate Risk, New Report Finds

Sierra Club’s third-annual report, “The Hidden Risk in State Pensions: Analyzing U.S. Public Pensions’ Responses to the Climate Crisis in Proxy Voting”, reveals that most public pensions continue to fail to adequately manage the climate-related financial risks to their investments through proxy voting, putting their long-term portfolio values at risk and undermining the retirement security of millions of public-sector workers. The report analyzes the proxy voting guidelines, 2025 proxy voting records, and voting transparency of 33 of the largest and...

April 9, 2026
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08Apr

MFS Survey Shows Plan Sponsor Confidence Improving Dramatically

Findings from the annual MFS Defined Contribution Plan Sponsor Survey show that plan sponsors’ confidence in their participants being able to retire when they want has increased dramatically year-over-year. One-third of sponsors are now very or extremely confident in their participants’ ability to retire at their target age, up from just 18% one year prior. The result: a score of “B” on MFS’ proprietary Workplace Retirement Readiness Indicator. The survey, which captures insights from 153 plan sponsors representing over $400...

April 8, 2026
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01Apr

2024 Sustainability Investment Report

By Government Pension Investment Fund  The Government Pension Investment Fund, Japan (GPIF) has published the "2024 Sustainability Investment Report" as a way of reporting on GPIF's sustainability-related initiative, including Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), and the effects thereof to all pension beneficiaries and other stakeholders. In the "2024 Sustainability Investment Report," in addition to presenting the initiatives on sustainability investment undertaken during the year and the ESG evaluation of the portfolio, we also conducted the "Analysis of the Exercise of...

April 1, 2026
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