August 2020

Canadian pension fund pursues global growth

Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ) is shifting to an integrated structure for international activities in order to have a global view when managing its presence in different regions. "After building multidisciplinary teams in Asia, Latin America, the United States and Europe, and increasing our international exposure by over $140 billion (AUD$146.4 billion) in five years, moving toward a more integrated structure is the natural next step in our evolution," the fund said. To drive the strategy,...

July 2020

Environmental Concerns and Financial Performance: Evidence from the EU Regulatory Framework

By Ricardo Correia, Carmen Mendoza, Nuria Suárez We analyze the impact of carbon and greenhouse gas emissions on firms’ accounting and market performance. Over a sample of 115 non-financial firms from 9 European countries during the 2008-2016 period, our results suggest that higher volume of both country-level carbon and greenhouse emissions have, on average, a positive and statistically significant impact on firms’ accounting performance. However, no statistical effect is found in terms of stock market performance. The results are...

The big reforms that could boost retiree incomes by 30 per cent

Retiree incomes could increase by as much as 30 per cent if superannuation funds were forced to offer ‘longevity-based’ products, the Actuaries Institute has claimed. In a new paper released on Thursday, the peak professional body said Australian retirement incomes would be significantly boosted through the compulsory use of ‘longevity risk’ managing products. Read also Does early access to pension funds improve health? These products, such as lifetime annuities, are intended to provide a stable, regular income to retirees for...

US, Canadian Pension Funds Rebound with Markets in Q2

The funded status of the largest US corporate pension plans and Canadian defined benefit (DB) pension plans rebounded during the second quarter as resurgent equity and bond markets offset liability increases from falling interest rates. The funded status for the pension plans for 366 Fortune 1000 companies that sponsor US defined benefit pension plans increased to 82% as of June 30, from 79% at the end of the first quarter, but below the 87% at the end of 2019,...

Norwegian Government Pension Fund: exclude nuclear weapons producers from investments

The ethical committee of the Norwegian Government Pension Fund recommended this week to include significant policy improvements on issues that PAX has advocated for, including nuclear weapons, lethal autonomous weapons and controversial arms trade. In brief, it builds the norm against weapons causing indiscriminate harm and against the controversial arms trade. Read also Banks and pension funds among investors bankrolling meat and dairy The Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global invests oil revenues on behalf of all Norwegians and is the...

World’s Largest Pension Fund Loses $165 Billion in Worst Quarter

The world’s biggest pension fund posted a record loss in the first three months of 2020 after the coronavirus pandemic sparked a global market rout in the period. Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund lost 11%, or 17.7 trillion yen ($164.7 billion), in the three months ended March, it said in Tokyo on Friday. Read also Raiding the pot: how the pandemic has deepened the pensions crisis The decline in value was the steepest based on comparable data back to April...

June 2020

Dutch schemes fail to push management fees below 0.5% threshold

Large Dutch pension funds have not been able to push their investment management fees to below the 0.5% threshold, even though their assets under management increased by 28% in the past five years. Consultancy LCP looked at total management fees as a percentage of total assets for the seven largest occupational funds – ABP, PFZW, PMT, PME, BpfBouw, Vervoer and PGB – and three large company pension funds (Philips, Rabobank and Shell). Together, these funds administer two thirds of all...

Milliman analysis: Estimated cost of retiree pension risk transfer drops significantly, from 105.5% to 103.9% in May

Milliman, Inc., a premier global consulting and actuarial firm, today announced the latest results of its new 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. The MPBI uses the FTSE Above Median AA Curve, along with annuity purchase composite interest rates from insurers, to estimate the average cost...

US. New Labor Department rule reinforces pension funds’ fiduciary duties.

The Labor Department proposed a rule Tuesday that will govern how the $10.7 trillion invested in private pension plans should be managed in light of the push to consider the environment, social factors and corporate governance, or ESG, when making investment decisions. According to Morningstar, from 2018-19 flows into “sustainable” funds increased nearly fourfold, and the number of conventional funds claiming to consider ESG factors rose to 564 from 81. More than 3,100 institutional investors and businesses that provide...

How COVID-19 is impacting Nigeria’s pensions industry

Monthly data from Nigeria’s pensions industry shows that the country’s total pension fund assets stood at 10.6 trillion naira as at April this year with Federal Government Securities weighing 66.25 per cent of the total pension fund assets. The data also showed that new retirement savings account grew 85 per cent less in April 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. Pabina Yinkere, Chief Investment Officer at Sigma Pensions joins CNBC Africa for more. Read more @CBC Africa