March 2021
09Mar

Banks, pensions, and sovereign funds fail to achieve gender balance, finds OMFIF

By Madeleine Taylor Less than 1 per cent of central banks, sovereign funds, public pension funds and commercial banks have achieved gender balance within their workforces, according to a comprehensive survey by Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF). Think tank OMFIF surveyed 540 institutions on gender diversity among senior staff, and found only three that had achieved perfect scores for gender balance among their senior staff, while another 12 were “close to achieving balance”. The three highest ranking institutions were US...

March 9, 2021
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05Mar

OECD proposes revision of its DC ‘good design’ roadmap

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development wants public input on a new roadmap for good design in defined contribution plans. Read also E.U. Pushes Companies to Close Gender Pay Gap The OECD and its Working Party on Private Pensions updated the OECD Roadmap for the Good Design of Defined Contribution Retirement Savings Plans to incorporate recent revisions. The roadmap identifies good design and public policy to help countries to strengthen retirement income adequacy. The initial guidelines were agreed on in...

March 5, 2021
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04Mar

How Covid-19 revealed under-appreciated risks

“Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked,” legendary investor Warren Buffett once said. While few portfolio managers anticipated the sheer speed and force with which the waters receded during Covid-19 – or the swiftness of their return, the impact of the pandemic made clear that potential risks exist that may not have been seriously appreciated before. Read also Covid-19 Is Most Certainly A Retirement Story The coronavirus crisis sparked a “huge realisation of how risks in...

March 4, 2021
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02Mar

Canada. Pensions seek clear strategies, lower costs through in-house management

Canadian pension funds are shifting asset management in-house, new research from CIBC Mellon says, and managers want lower fees and greater transparency on funds managed externally. The survey of 50 pension managers last year found an average of 22% of assets managed in-house; that figure is expected to rise to 28% this year. Almost two-thirds of pensions said bringing asset management in-house allows for a clearer alignment of strategies with long-term objectives. More than half cited advantages such as having a...

March 2, 2021
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02Mar

Seeing the forest for the trees: Why pension funds should take another look at forestry as an asset class

By Fiona Stewart, Samantha Power Pension funds invest our savings over decades, so it is not surprising that they have a long history of investing in forestry assets. Swedish investors can trace the ‘roots’ of forestry investment back to the 13th century. In the modern era, pension funds began investing in forestry about 50 years ago, in the Southern United States. Since then, this modality of investment has expanded across the U.S. and Canada, as well as in Oceania, Europe,...

March 2, 2021
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01Mar

‘Markets Are Wrong’: $2 Trillion of Pension Funds Skip Bond Rout

As interest-rate jitters supercharged a meltdown in the world’s biggest bond market, Sam Sicilia barely blinked. “The markets are wrong” about inflation expectations, said Sicilia, chief investment officer of the A$56 billion ($43 billion) Host-Plus Pty pension fund in Melbourne. “Deflationary forces are bigger. Interest rates are going to stay at effectively zero.” With governments around the globe still adding to trillions of dollars of stimulus to ride out the pandemic, pension fund managers who are trying to discern the long-term...

March 1, 2021
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01Mar

UK. Pension risk settlements reached record high of over £54bn in 2020

The UK pension scheme risk settlement market hit a new record-high figure of over £54bn in 2020, and 2021 could be even bigger, according to analysis from Aon. The provider said it was possible to conclude that 2020 had broken the £52bn total achieved in 2019 now that all information on deals was available, while it cited “early indications” in its forecast that the new year could be worth even more. It also noted that the feat had been achieved despite...

March 1, 2021
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February 2021
26Feb

Latin American Sovereigns Are at a Pension Reform Crossroads

Fitch Ratings-London/New York-25 February 2021: Fiscal challenges and social grievances are adding urgency to a new wave of pension reforms in Latin America that could be relevant for sovereign ratings, Fitch Ratings says in a new report. Latin America’s population is still among the world’s youngest, but it is ageing at one of the fastest paces, and its savings patterns stand out as being especially low given the coming demographic pressure. But reform efforts will face challenges after years of...

February 26, 2021
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24Feb

Italy. Pension funds pull positive returns in 2020 despite pandemic

The pension fund for management staff of oil and gas company ENI has recorded positive results for all its investment options last year. The performance of its garantito assicurativo fund stood at 1.71%, 11.28% for the last five years. Its bilanciato (balanced) fund recorded a positive performance of 3.44% in 2020, with a 13.52% for the past five years. Fopdire’s dinamico fund hit 5.20% last year, reacing a 21.70% figure for the last five years. On average annually, for the...

February 24, 2021
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24Feb

S.Korea’s state-run pension fund posts 9.7% return in 2020 – health ministry

South Korea's state-run pension fund posted a provisional annual return rate of 9.7% in 2020, Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol said on Wednesday, as the COVID-19 pandemic drove volatility in global financial markets. The National Pension Service (NPS) is the world's third-largest pension fund, with 833.7 trillion won ($750.39 billion) in assets as of the end of 2020. Last year's annual rate of return was lower than 2019's 11.3%, which was the highest on record since the National Pension Service Investment Management,...

February 24, 2021
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