May 2022
20May

CPPIB returns net 6.8% for fiscal year

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board returned a net 6.8% for the fiscal year ended March 31, the Toronto-based board announced in a news release Thursday. CPPIB, which manages the assets of the Canada Pension Plan, said the pension fund's net assets increased to C$539 billion ($431.8 billion) from C$497 billion a year ago. It added that the C$42 billion increase comprised $34 billion in net income and $8 billion in net transfers from the plan. The portfolio achieved five-year and 10-year...

May 20, 2022
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19May

Canadian Pensions Can Withstand Higher Inflation, Weaker Growth

Fitch-rated Canadian pension funds are well positioned to withstand higher inflation and modest economic growth amid heightened market volatility, Fitch Ratings says. That said, stagflation would be more challenging, given funds’ long-only investment strategies and vulnerability to economic and market downturns. The maturing nature of participant bases increases pension funds’ reliance on investment returns, as contributions and income from active members may be outpaced by benefits paid to a growing number of retirees. Still, Canadian pension funds’ long-term investment...

May 19, 2022
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11May

US. Companies Race to Offload Pension Risk as Market Volatility Rises

The market for pension risk transfers is booming. In the first quarter of 2022, U.S. pension risk transfers reached $5.5 billion in total market volume, marking its largest quarter to date, according to Legal & General Retirement America’s pension risk transfer monitor. A PRT deal happens when a retirement provider — usually a corporate pension plan sponsor — unloads a portion of (or all) of its liabilities to an insurance company. Beth Ashmore, managing director of retirement at Willis Towers Watson,...

May 11, 2022
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10May

Nigeria. Pension fund assets now worth N13.88tr

Pension fund assets grew by N453.8 billion to a historic N13.88 trillion in the first of quarter of the year ended March 2022 (Q1 2022), and assets under management rose 3.38 per cent above N13.4 billion in December 2021. Data compiled by the National Pension Commission (PenCom) also shows that 12,336 Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) contributors switched their Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) between PFAs in Q1 2022. This is 4.2 per cent lower than the 12,874 who switched in Q4 2021...

May 10, 2022
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UK, Risk, Pension management
09May

Windfall tax on oil giants won’t hurt British pensioners, thinktank finds

Britain’s main pension funds own less than 0.2% of Shell and BP shares, undermining claims that a windfall tax on big oil companies would harm the retirement incomes of UK savers. A review of the oil giants’ shares by the Common Wealth thinktank shows the largest holdings are by US investment companies, including BlackRock and Vanguard, and the wealthy Norwegian pension funds. The UK’s multibillion-pound defined contribution occupational pension funds, which hold the savings of tens of millions of workers,...

May 9, 2022
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06May

US. Pension Risk Transfer Market Has Largest First Quarter in History

The pension risk transfer market had a total volume of $5.5 billion in the first quarter of 2022, according to a report by Legal & General. This is the largest first quarter for the PRT market in history. It represents a 45% increase from last year’s first-quarter volume of $3.8 billion and a 22% increase from 2020’s first-quarter volume of $4.5 billion. Two deals made during Q1 of 2020 were over $1 billion in volume. Read also U.S. corporate pension...

May 6, 2022
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04May

US. State Public Pension Fund Returns Expected to Decline

About 29 million Americans have been promised retirement benefits through state public sector pension systems. And more than half of those benefits depend on earnings generated by nearly $4 trillion in assets held in trust by those systems.1 However, with more than two-thirds of those assets allocated to risky investments—publicly traded stocks, also known as equities, and alternative vehicles, including private equity, real estate, and hedge funds—retirement systems’ ability to meet their commitments hinges largely on investments that are...

May 4, 2022
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03May

UK. Less than third of schemes regularly track individual fund performance

Just 30 per cent of pension schemes regularly monitor individual fund performance as experienced by members, according to new research. Defined contribution schemes must start targeting retirement outcomes over outperforming indices, Aon said in response to its survey of 109 UK DC schemes. In contrast, 90 per cent of schemes are using an index-based perspective for monitoring performance against market indices and benchmarks. Even fewer schemes — 15 per cent of respondents — monitored performance in the context of how it delivered...

May 3, 2022
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02May

Nigeria. Pension funds now N13.88tn, 61% invested in bonds, T-bills – Report

Total assets under the Contributory Pension Scheme rose by N460bn in three months to N13.88tn in March, according to figures from the National Pension Commission released on Friday. This was contained in the National Pension Commission’s latest report titled, ‘Unaudited report on pension funds industry portfolio for the period ended 31 March 2022; Approved Existing Schemes, Closed Pension Fund Administrators and RSA funds (Including unremitted contributions @CBN & legacy funds).’ The funds, which ended December 31, 2021, at N13.42tn, rose to...

May 2, 2022
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April 2022
29Apr

Europe dominates green finance index, but U.S. cities catching up

Western European cities, led by London, continue to dominate when it comes to green finance, but U.S. cities are starting to catch up, according to the Global Green Finance index published Thursday by London consultancy Z/Yen Group. Compared with the first one published in March 2018, the ninth edition of the semiannual index found more correlation between U.S. cities' standing as financial centers and their green credentials, said Mike Wardle, a director and head of indexes for Z/Yen, in an...

April 29, 2022
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