July 2023
13Jul

ESG Remains Important for Pension Funds and Asset Owners

Asset owners face the thorniest investment challenges today, dealing with inflation, geopolitical instability, and systemic risks like climate change. They oversee some of the world’s largest pools of capital, steering investment policy on behalf of pension plans, foundations, endowments, and sovereign wealth funds. Their practices shape the capital markets and the behavior of asset managers, financial advisors, and retail investors. They invest with a long time horizon and are exposed to the entire global market. That means they can’t diversify...

July 13, 2023
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11Jul

UK. Workplace pensions to invest billions in unlisted stocks

The government will continue its intervention in the allocation of the UK's trillions of pounds of pension holdings, after Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt announced that nine of the largest defined contribution (DC) pension schemes had agreed to allocate at least 5 per cent of their default funds to unlisted companies by 2030. Aviva (AV.), Scottish Widows, Legal & General (LGEN), Aegon, Phoenix (PHNX), Nest, Smart Pension, M&G (MNG) and Mercers have signed the Mansion House Compact, Hunt said,...

July 11, 2023
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10Jul

Asset management entering period of consolidation, tech changes – PwC

One-sixth of global asset and wealth management firms will disappear in the next five years, twice the historical turnover rate, largely due to ongoing consolidation, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers' 2023 Global Asset and Wealth Management Survey, released Sunday. Overall, the survey found that the global asset and wealth management industry faces a number of serious issues — including digital transformation, shifting investor expectations and consolidation — that will lead to the transformation of the industry, said a news release issued in...

July 10, 2023
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07Jul

World’s Largest Pension Fund Posts Quarterly Gain, Record Assets

Japan’s state pension fund, the world’s largest, posted its strongest quarter in more than two years as gains in global stock and bond markets during the three months through March boosted the value of its assets to a record. The Government Pension Investment Fund added 5.4% during the quarter, raising its total assets to 200.13 trillion yen ($1.39 trillion), the fund said in Tokyo Friday. Foreign equities were the top performers, gaining 8.2% as the US started to overcome a...

July 7, 2023
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06Jul

US. Chicago’s pension crisis worsens with investment losses

It’s a good thing Mayor Brandon Johnson established his own “working group” to find long-term solutions to Chicago’s pension crisis. The mountain is getting steeper to climb. Chicago’s unfunded pension liability rose by 5.4% in 2022 — from $33.6 billion to $35.4 billion — after stock market losses suffered by the four city employee pension funds. The Firefighters Pension Fund hovers closest to bankruptcy, with assets to cover just 18.8% of liabilities. That’s followed by Municipal Employees (20.7%), Police (21.5%) and...

July 6, 2023
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June 2023
30Jun

The State of Longevity 2021

By Daragh Campbell  2021 demonstrated that research into antiaging therapies is going from strength-to-strength, and our review of longevity clinical trials shows this clearly. As different areas of research continue to gain traction (cellular reprogramming, in particular), we wanted to analyse exactly how the longevity clinical trial market performed last year. In order to assess clinical trial data across 2021, we interrogated the Longevity.Technology database, which consists of over 250 longevity companies (and growing all the time!). This was used to...

June 30, 2023
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30Jun

‘InDIAs’: Innovative Retirement Security Bonds for India

By Arun Muralidhar A commonly-accepted retirement goal for a healthy pension is for it to sustain the relatively higher standard-of-living of the latter part of one’s working life throughout retirement. A recent innovation implemented by Brazil in January 2023 might provide a solution to the pension challenges faced by India, and, more importantly, satisfy the key goals identified by the Reserve Bank of India in respect of debt management and a stable debt structure as also self- reliance and financial...

June 30, 2023
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23Jun

Milliman analysis: Competitive pension risk transfer costs increase from 98.3% to 100.5% in May

Milliman, Inc., a premier global consulting and actuarial firm, today announced the latest results of its Milliman Pension Buyout Index (MPBI). As the pension risk transfer (PRT) market continues to grow, it has become increasingly important to monitor the annuity market for plan sponsors that are considering transferring retiree pension obligations to an insurer. During May, the estimated cost to transfer retiree pension risk to an insurer in a competitive bidding process increased from 98.3% of a plan's accounting liabilities...

June 23, 2023
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21Jun

Zurich & Prudential Financial in £1.7bn UK pension longevity swap & reinsurance

The Nationwide Pension Fund Trustee Limited has entered into a longevity swap agreement with Zurich Assurance Ltd (Zurich UK), and Prudential Financial, Inc. (PFI) of the United States has acted as the reinsurance capital provider. The longevity risk of approximately £1.7 billion ($2 billion) of Nationwide’s pension scheme liabilities, covering approximately 7,000 in-pay members in the UK, are involved. The transaction sees the longevity risk of the pension passing through Zurich UK, to an insurance subsidiary of PFI as the reinsurance...

June 21, 2023
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13Jun

UK pension fund fights appeal in landmark fossil fuels lawsuit

Britain's biggest private pension scheme on Tuesday asked a London court to block a landmark lawsuit over its alleged failure to devise a credible plan to divest from fossil fuels. The 82 billion-pound ($103 billion) Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) is facing legal action from two of its members over its continuing investments in coal, natural gas and petroleum. The lawsuit was blocked last year by London's High Court, but the two academics behind the claim asked the Court of Appeal to...

June 13, 2023
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