March 2022
14Mar

China markets in turmoil as Russia ties add to list of risks

Global investors are losing faith in China's ability to navigate an increasingly complex maze of challenges. The war in Ukraine raises the specter of harsh sanctions being applied to Chinese firms should they proceed with plans to acquire stakes in Russian energy and materials producers. The risk of Chinese companies being delisted from the U.S. is growing. A housing slump is worsening. Record commodities prices locally may stoke inflation, while the highest COVID-19 infections since the Wuhan outbreak will weigh...

March 14, 2022
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11Mar

US. Putin, Russian Pals “Mystery” Partners in Public Pension Deals?

America’s state and local government pensions invest as much as 40 percent of their assets in secretive, offshore “alternative” hedge, private equity, real estate and venture funds which warn that certain unidentified “mystery investors” pay lower fees, are provided greater information about investment strategies and portfolio holdings, have been granted liquidity preferences and receive superior net performance—all at the expense of America’s public sector workers. Read also US. Corporate pension buyouts record second-highest year in volume How many wealthy Russians are...

March 11, 2022
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09Mar

Russia. Putin signs law allowing government to quickly raise pensions – RIA

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law allowing his government to quickly raise pensions, part of a set of anti-crisis measures after Russia was hit by a wave of economic sanctions over Ukraine, the RIA news agency reported on Tuesday. Read also UK. Pension Protection Fund pulls out of Russia Read also UK pension funding levels prove resilient in February despite the crisis in Ukraine Another new initiative signed into law by Putin gave individuals and small- and medium-sized businesses the...

March 9, 2022
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08Mar

U.K. pension regulator calls for vigilance over Russia risks

U.K. pension fund trustees should be "vigilant" about how the Russian invasion of Ukraine and resulting sanctions might affect them, The Pensions Regulator cautioned in a March 4 guidance. TPR recognized that some trustees and their advisers have already been reviewing their exposure risks, and set expectations for those reviews. "We expect you to be vigilant and talk to your advisers about any action which you may need to take, depending on your scheme's investment, risk management or employer covenant exposures,"...

March 8, 2022
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07Mar

IMF Sees ‘Severe Impact’ on Global Economy From War, Sanctions

The International Monetary Fund warned Russia’s war with Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions imposed upon President Vladimir Putin’s country will have a “severe impact” on the global economy. “While the situation remains highly fluid and the outlook is subject to extraordinary uncertainty, the economic consequences are already very serious,” the Washington-based lender said in a statement on Saturday. Food and energy prices have surged in recent days and supply chains have frayed, adding to the inflationary pressures that policy makers were...

March 7, 2022
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More U.K., European investors move away from Russia
04Mar

More U.K., European investors move away from Russia

Asset owners and managers across the U.K. and Europe continued moving away from Russian investments following the invasion of Ukraine. The Swedish Pensions Agency on Monday placed an immediate ban on purchasing Russian funds. "We are stopping the possibility of buying the funds that focus most heavily on investments in Russia. This is done to protect pension savers," said Erik Fransson, head of fund management for the SPA, in a news release. SPA has 2.1 trillion (232 billion) Swedish kronor...

March 4, 2022
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State Pensions Can’t Dump Russian Investments They Don’t Even Know They Own
04Mar

US. State Pensions Can’t Dump Russian Investments They Don’t Even Know They Own

By Edward Siedle Across the nation politicians are naïvely calling for state pensions to dump their Russian investments to punish the country for its invasion of Ukraine. Since state pensions have in recent years agreed to let Wall Street fund managers keep secret their investment holdings, states don’t even know the Russian assets they hold. Yesterday, state Attorney General Dave Yost publicly called upon Ohio’s five public employee retirement funds to divest themselves of Russian financial holdings to further punish the...

March 4, 2022
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Pension Investments: Impacts of the Ukraine / Russia Crisis
04Mar

Pension Investments: Impacts of the Ukraine / Russia Crisis

Pension scheme trustees will naturally be considering what, if any, steps they may wish to take as the economic effects of Russia's invasion of Ukraine have begun to be felt worldwide, and as further economic sanctions and restrictions have been imposed on Russia and Belarus. There are two issues for trustees to consider: 1.whether any of their investments are now subject to sanctions; and 2.whether, in the light of sanctions and the economic and political consequences arising from the Russian invasion of...

March 4, 2022
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03Mar

Global Pension Funds Shun Russian Investments

A growing number of pension funds are shunning investments in Russia following the country’s military invasion of Ukraine. Norway’s minister of finance said he will ask the Government Pension Fund Global, Norway’s $1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund, to freeze all its investments in Russia immediately, and also divest from Russia. Read also From Japan to the US, sanctions threaten top pension funds’ Russia assets “Given the way the situation has evolved, we consider it necessary for the fund to divest its Russian...

March 3, 2022
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02Mar

From Japan to the US, sanctions threaten top pension funds’ Russia assets

Norway’s announcement it would divest its sovereign wealth fund’s Russian holdings – totalling $2.8 billion as of end-December – as a consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has raised the prospect that other state-backed pension funds might follow their governments’ cues and offload assets en masse. Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) – the largest in the world by assets – had ¥213.1 billion ($1.9 billion) in exposures to Russia as of end-March 2021. Read more @Risk 552 views

March 2, 2022
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