Japan. One Pension Fund Manager Is Going Against the Grain
In the $870 billion world of Japan Inc. employee pension funds, he’s known as the unusual idealist who’s long danced to his own tune.
Hiroichi Yagi filled the Secom Corporate Pension Fund with stocks when his peers hid in bonds, considering it his duty to support Japanese equities. He embraced environmental, social and governance investing as a way to reduce volatility. And he signed Japan’s stewardship code for institutional investors right at the start, making Secom the only corporate pension fund outside of financial firms to accept the voluntary standards.
“It was the natural thing to do,” the mild-mannered 65-year-old said in an interview in Tokyo. Soon “others will follow.”
Company pension funds have become the problem children of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s corporate governance overhaul. As other investors vow to press executives to run their businesses better, this group is drawing criticism for refusing to get on board.
Japan has more than 19,000 corporate pension plans, according to the Pension Fund Association. They collectively manage more than $870 billion in assets, a bigger pool than most of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds.
Full Content: Bloomberg
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