February 2022
18Feb

Japan. World’s Top Pension Fund GPIF to Reassess Stock-Lending Halt

Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund is set to review the impact of its decision more than two years ago to stop lending shares, and intends to put the controversial move up for debate. The world’s biggest pension fund, which manages nearly 200 trillion yen ($1.7 trillion) in assets, should have enough data to determine what impact the move has had on its investments, GPIF President Masataka Miyazono told Bloomberg News in an interview in Tokyo on Wednesday. Read more @Bloomberg 718 views

February 18, 2022
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16Feb

Global retirement assets hit $56.6 trillion in 2021 – Thinking Ahead Institute

Global institutional retirement assets set a new record in 2021, reaching $56.6 trillion by the end of the year in the 22 largest markets, according to a study released Wednesday by the Thinking Ahead Institute in London. Read also US. A monumental year pushes assets up 17% In the largest markets, 54% of those assets are in defined contribution funds, the study found. Retirement asset totals by the end of 2021 were up 6.9% from a year earlier, when they first surpassed...

February 16, 2022
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15Feb

Zimbabwe’s FML faces investigation over asset separation law defiance

FML, the second-largest life assurance company in Zimbabwe by market share that also provides retirement, medical insurance, micro-insurance and other long-term financial security products, has also effectively defied the law on separation of insurance and pension businesses due to internal squabbles over the issue, which has led to some executives being removed. Zimbabwe’s leading financial services conglomerate, CBZ Holdings, is in the process of taking over FMHL to build a business behemoth in the local and regional markets. In a letter...

February 15, 2022
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14Feb

US. Pension plans increasing their focus on allocating to diverse asset managers

U.S. pension funds are allocating more to diverse money managers and taking more steps to measure how their assets are allocated and articulate formal policies on their processes. This is the second year Pensions & Investments has surveyed the top 200 U.S. retirement plans regarding defined benefit plan assets managed by money management firms owned by women, minorities, people with disabilities and veterans. As of Sept. 30, respondents said a total $120.7 billion was managed by WMDV-owned managers, up from $68.4...

February 14, 2022
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14Feb

US. A monumental year pushes assets up 17%

The 1,000 largest U.S. retirement plans had a banner year, propelled in large part by strong returns in public and private equity and other alternative investment strategies, as well as from higher contributions to defined benefit and defined contribution plans. In the year ended Sept. 30, aggregate assets of the 1,000 largest U.S. retirement funds rose 16.9% to $14.13 trillion, a big improvement from the previous year when assets managed to rise 6.6% amid the first year of the COVID-19...

February 14, 2022
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08Feb

Kenya. Pension returns up five percentage points on stocks gains

Pension fund returns rose by five percentage points in 2021 on improved performance of equities and offshore investments, signalling higher interest earnings for savers. Pension fund administrator Zamara said that in 2021, the median return for schemes stood at 12.4 percent compared to 7.3 percent in 2020. The higher returns were mainly driven by a rebound in equities, where returns stood at 18.4 percent in the year compared to a decline of 10.4 percent in 2020. This asset class accounts for...

February 8, 2022
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07Feb

Danish pension fund ditches Wizz Air over labour rights

Danish pension fund AkademikerPension said on Monday it was selling its stake in budget airline Wizz Air (WIZZ.L) over alleged "human and labour rights abuses" towards its workers. The $23 billion fund was one of 14 investors that called on Wizz in December to allow employees to form and join trade unions, saying their research suggested it was discouraging the practice in breach of staff rights. AkademikerPension said on Monday that, after meeting management, it saw no sign the airline's practices...

February 7, 2022
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07Feb

UK. Nearly half of savers in the dark when switching providers

More than four in 10 pension savers said they would not know what to look for when switching providers. More than two in five of the 2,104 savers surveyed by B&CE, the provider of The People’s Pension, would be likely to transfer their savings between providers if they could use a website that allowed them to see their pensions in one place. The findings are the latest in a flurry of research conducted into consumer behaviour surrounding the pensions dashboards, which...

February 7, 2022
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04Feb

GPIF, World’s Top Pension, Has Record Seventh Quarterly Gain

The world’s largest pension fund posted a record seventh straight quarter of gains in the three months ended December, as stocks outside Japan helped the fund boost returns. Read also U.S. public pension funds may turn to more ‘aggressive’ investment, report says Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund gained 2.8% in the quarter, with assets climbing to a record 199.3 trillion yen ($1.73 trillion), the fund said in Tokyo. Read also China rolling out perks to encourage couples to have 3rd child amid...

February 4, 2022
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03Feb

Target Date Funds and Portfolio Choice in 401(k) Plans

By Olivia S. Mitchell & Stephen P. Utkus Target date funds in corporate retirement plans grew from $5B in 2000 to $734B in 2018, partly because federal regulation sanctioned these as default investments in automatic enrollment plans. We show that adopters delegated pension investment decisions to fund managers selected by plan sponsors. Including these funds in retirement saving menus raised equity shares, boosted bond exposures, curtailed cash/company stock holdings, and reduced idiosyncratic risk. The adoption of low-cost target date funds...

February 3, 2022
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