October 2019

Defined Benefit Pension De-Risking and Corporate Investment Policy

By Brian Silverstein U.S. corporate sponsors of defined benefit pension plans in recent years have been de-risking by paying premiums to transfer their pension plan assets and liabilities to the balance sheets of third party insurers. The passage of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) in 2012 provided the pension funding relief necessary to make de-risking a mainstream corporate activity. This study provides the first empirical analysis of plan and firm factors that cause...

July 2019

U.S. Public Pension Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for Trustees and Investment Staff

By Von M Hughes In an ever-changing financial and political landscape, your job as a public pension fiduciary continues to get more difficult. Now, you have the help you need. U.S. Public Pension Handbook is the only one-stop resource that covers the various areas of public pension policy design, governance, investment management, infrastructure, accounting, and law. This comprehensive guide presents critical data, information, and insights in topic-specific, easy-to-understand ways--providing the knowledge you need to elevate your expertise...

Must an Occupational Pension Scheme Take Into Account ESG Factors Even If There Is a Risk of Financial Detriment to the Pension Fund?

By Philip Bennett This paper outlines the legal rules that regulate the investment of the assets of an English law occupational pension scheme set up under trust where the investment powers over those assets are held by the scheme trustee. Those rules derive from a combination of EU Directives (in particular, Article 18 of Directive 2003/41/EC (the “IORP I Directive”) replaced by Article 19 of Directive 2016/2341 (the “IORP II Directive”)), UK legislation transposing those Directives and adding further...

June 2019

Growth Markets Asset Allocation Trends: Evolving Landscape

By Fiona Dunsire What happens as global economic leadership changes hands from the Western economy to the growth markets — countries in Asia, Latin America, Middle East and Africa? In our very first Growth Markets Asset Allocation Trends: Evolving Landscape, we analyze pension fund asset allocation in these dynamic markets and interpret what the trends mean for asset owners, asset managers and, ultimately, individual investors. Consider these numbers: 25 of the top 50 global institutional investors are located in...