December 2024

2024 is a record year for ETFs in Latin America, especially among pension funds

According to a report by ETFGI, this year will be historic for the global ETF sector. By the end of August, the industry reached a new all-time high of $13.99 billion in assets under management, surpassing the previous record of $13.61 billion. In the emerging markets of Latin America, the trend is similar, driven by increased liquidity in the region. This is particularly evident among the largest pension funds, whose managers have long used ETFs as one of their preferred...

Canada lifts 30% pension fund investment cap

The federal government has announced plans to remove the long-standing cap that restricts Canadian pension funds from owning more than 30% of voting shares in a Canadian entity, finance minister Chrystia Freeland revealed during a press conference in Toronto on Friday. This change, part of Monday’s fall economic statement, is part of a push to increase domestic investment and leverage the vast resources of Canadian pension funds. “Canadian pension funds have over $3 trillion in assets and some of the world’s...

Aon UK DC Pension Tracker – Q3 2024: State Pension increase drives rise in savers’ expected incomes

By Aon Over Q2 as a whole, the Aon UK DC Tracker rose which suggests the expected future living standard in retirement provided by defined contribution (DC) savings was higher than at the end of the previous quarter. All members benefited from the April 2024 increase in the state pension, which increased from £10,600 to £11,500 per year. The oldest saver saw the largest proportionate increase from this change as the state pension makes up a larger proportion of their expected retirement income. Positive returns...

Pulse Report. Afire International Investor Survey

By Afire International Investor Survey   As an extension of housing concerns in the US, trends in the insurance industry can sometimes serve as portents, or as evidence. At the junction between the global, environmental effects of climate change and the frequently counterintuitive logic of homeowners, renters, and consumers in the US, the question of insurance is best understood as an analogy. For example, earlier in 2024, AFIRE asked investors if they agreed or disagreed with the sentiment that the industry...

Private Equity for Pension Plans? Evaluating Private Equity Performance from an Investor’s Perspective

By Arthur Korteweg, Stavros Panageas & Anand Systla We evaluate private equity (PE) performance using investor-specific stochastic discount factors, and examine whether investors could benefit from changing their allocation to PE. Plans invest in PE funds with higher average risk-adjusted performance. This is mainly due to access to successful PE managers, not superior selection skill. Decomposing returns into risk-compensation and "alpha", we find that some plans obtain higher PE returns by taking more risk without earning higher, and in some cases earning lower,...

The Economics of Net Zero Banking

By Adair Morse & Parinitha R. Sastry Banks have voluntarily committed to align their lending portfolios with a net zero path toward a decarbonized economy. In this review, we explore the economic channels for why portfolio decarbonization might be consistent with lender profit maximization. We frame the question by positing that net zero lending may create differential value through the channels of risk and returns, where return topics span profit margins and lending book growth arguments. We then use the lens of...

How climate change will impact pension fund investment portfolios

Failure to transition to a low-carbon economy could cost pension schemes up to 30% in investment losses by 2050, according to new research. Analytics and risk management firm Ortec Finance analysed the investment portfolios of 30 large UK pension schemes based on exposure to climate change risks. It modelled seven different scenarios for the global transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy sources, and found that real estate and listed equities were the most vulnerable asset classes if any...

AllianzGI Approved for China Pension Firm Stake

The investment arm of Allianz has been approved to become the first foreign asset manager to own a stake in China’s pension insurance company. Allianz Global Investors has received regulatory approval for investment in a 2 percent stake in Guomin Pension & Insurance Company, according to a statement. This makes it the first foreign asset manager to own a stake in the pension insurer. AllianzGI has been approved to subscribe to around 228 million newly issued shares in Guomin Pension worth approximately...

Performance, liquidity concerns affecting investors’ private markets decisions

Almost 90% of institutions investing in private markets will not re-invest with their existing managers over the next 12 months, according to new research – with many citing poor performance. Coller Capital’s latest Global Private Capital Barometer found that 88% of limited partners – institutions such as pension funds buying into private markets wouldn’t increase allocations to their existing manager relationships next year. The report said this trend had been building over the past year, with almost 80% of respondents saying...

Pension Markets in Focus 2024

By Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Pension Markets in Focus provides detailed and comparable statistics on asset-backed pensions around the world. This publication aims to help policy makers, regulators and other stakeholders evaluate the design and operation of pension systems, and to support policy discussions through international comparisons. Pension Markets in Focus is published annually. A preliminary version is published in June based on initial data on selected variables, and the final version in the last quarter of the year based on...