May 2021
25May

Dutch manager APG forms joint venture to help ABP invest in Chilean forests

Dutch pensions provider APG formed a joint venture on behalf of its largest pension fund client to invest in forests in Chile. On behalf of the €495.3 billion ($601.5 billion) ABP, Heerlen, Netherlands, APG formed the company with British Columbia Investment Management Corp. and South American investment bank BTG Pactual's timber investment group. BCI has C$171.3 billion ($141.4 billion) in AUM. The new venture will invest $385.5 million in forestry in Chile, owning more than 80,000 hectares of Chilean forest across...

May 25, 2021
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24May

Ireland. Bringing order to a fragmented pensions landscape

The transposition into Irish law of the Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision (IORP) II directive at the end of April represented a game changing event for Irish pensions, says PwC pensions partner Munro O’Dwyer. Ireland has more than 100,000 pension schemes, the majority of them one-person arrangements, and the net effect of the new rules could be to reduce that number to less than 200. That rationalisation will be prompted by the increased regulatory obligations and costs imposed on pension schemes. IORP...

May 24, 2021
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24May

UK. One in five savers have three or more pensions

One in five savers in the UK have three or more pension pots, while almost half (47 per cent) have two or more, according to research commissioned by Hargreaves Lansdown. The study, conducted by Opinium, also found that less than a quarter (24 per cent) had ever transferred a pension. Men were more likely to have transferred a pension, with 26 per cent of male respondents having done so, compared to 22 per cent of women. However, Hargreaves Lansdown noted that it...

May 24, 2021
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24May

UK. Top British companies forced to pump £200bn into pension schemes to prop them up, figures reveal

Top British companies have been forced to pump £200billion into their pension schemes to avoid a drop in funding, figures reveal. Read also UK pension asset owners join Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance Law firm Lane Clark & Peacock said the sum – equivalent to the economic output of Czechia – was needed to counter tumbling share prices and bond yields. Read also UK. One in five savers have three or more pensions It warned that firms were 'running just to stand still' and that...

May 24, 2021
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21May

Japan’s Number Two Pension Fund to Post Best Returns in 20 Years

Japan’s second-largest pension fund said it expects to post the best returns since 2001 on the back of the global equity market’s rally and is looking to expand sustainable investing. Returns likely exceeded 20% in the the year ended March, said Shigemune Sato, the director-general of the fund management department at the Pension Fund Association for Local Government Officials. The fund, known as Chikyoren, tracks the portfolio of Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund, the world’s largest pension pot, and is...

May 21, 2021
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18May

Aon to sell pension, investment consulting units in Germany to LCP

Aon agreed to sell its pension consulting, pension administration and investment consulting businesses in Germany to consultant Lane Clark & Peacock as the firm seeks to secure clearance from the European Commission for its merger with Willis Towers Watson. In a news release Monday, Aon said the deal with LCP "resolves questions raised by the European Commission with respect to the markets in which these businesses are active." The commission has been investigating competition issues related to the Aon-WTW merger...

May 18, 2021
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18May

Managing a Retirement Plan Doesn’t Have to Be a Headache

COVID-19 wreaked havoc on our economy. Customers vanished and supply lines evaporated, as employees adjusted to a new paradigm of working from home. Wild swings in securities markets were a symptom of the pandemic. C-suite executives, who also found themselves working remotely, are still being pulled in multiple directions. Among the hardest-hit industries have been retail, oil & gas, hospitality and travel. In the past year, we’ve seen top national brands such as J.Crew and Neiman Marcus seeking reorganization under...

May 18, 2021
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14May

South Africa: Green light for infrastructure investment by retirement funds?

In South Africa, the draft Amendments to Regulation 28 of the Pension Funds Act were published by National Treasury earlier this month. These amendments will allow retirement funds to invest up to 45% of their assets in infrastructure. This is set to open a huge potential source of funding for domestic infrastructure projects, but there has been some debate around whether this will be enough to help bridge the country’s infrastructure gap. Draft Amendments to Regulation 28 of the Pension...

May 14, 2021
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13May

US. Pension Funds Are Desperate to Cut Costs, but Consolidation Isn’t the Answer

Public pension funds that merge with their peers have historically hailed it as a smart way to cut costs and achieve economies of scale. But the strategy of consolidating funds, particularly for large ones, is not yielding the benefits it once once did, new research shows. In fact, for some funds, the economies of scale they are achieving is “rather mediocre,” according to a paper published this month by researchers Jacob Antoon Bikker and Jeroen Meringa from De Nederlandsche Bank, the...

May 13, 2021
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11May

German utility giant Eon starts €2.5bn pension fund

German utility giant Eon has created a new pension fund structure that will cover 10,000 members and have €2.5bn (£2.15bn) in assets under management. Eon acquired German energy company Innogy from RWE in 2019. Innogy’s pension assets from RWE Pensionsfonds were transferred to Willis Towers Watson’s Pensionsfonds in December that same year as an interim solution. Eon will use the pension expertise of Willis Towers Watson for both implementation and the ongoing operations of the new pension structure. Stefan Brenk, head of...

May 11, 2021
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