October 2023

PIAFRICA 2024: Shaping The Future Of Pension Funds And Alternative Investments In Africa

PIAFRICA 2024, the 7th edition of the Pension Funds and Alternative Investments Africa Conference, is set to take place on February 28th – 29th, 2024, at the Intercontinental in Mauritius. This distinguished event brings together Pension Fund Managers, Investment Managers, Institutional Managers, and industry leaders for a groundbreaking gathering. The overarching theme of the event revolves around exploring new investment avenues, especially in alternative investments, and addressing the challenges that accompany them. PIAFRICA is not just a conference; it’s a...

U.K. investment managers see assets dip 12% in 2022

Assets managed by the U.K. investment management industry fell to £8.8 trillion ($10.61 trillion) at the end of 2022, a 12% decrease from the previous year, according to the Investment Association's annual Investment Management Survey. The survey released Oct. 10 attributed the drop to a broad-based market correction reflecting monetary policy changes, inflation, the Ukraine war and other global uncertainties. "The markets experienced an unusual correlation in the direction of travel for both global equities and bonds," the survey report said. Sharp...

U.K. investment managers see assets dip 12% in 2022

Assets managed by the U.K. investment management industry fell to £8.8 trillion ($10.61 trillion) at the end of 2022, a 12% decrease from the previous year, according to the Investment Association's annual Investment Management Survey. The survey released Oct. 10 attributed the drop to a broad-based market correction reflecting monetary policy changes, inflation, the Ukraine war and other global uncertainties. "The markets experienced an unusual correlation in the direction of travel for both global equities and bonds," the survey report...

Asian Retirement Markets 2023: Building Security Against Uncertainty

By Shaun Ng As Asia’s retirement pension funds evaluate the funding status for the many approaching their golden years, alternative investments offer diversification and returns. Major pension funds in Asia have been diversifying further into alternatives, driven by the need to deliver solid returns and combat inflationary pressures as they face a looming underfunding crisis. However, nearly 41% of Asian pensions surveyed by Cerulli cite a “limited understanding” of alternatives, while one-third say they lack in-house expertise when investing in alternatives....

Inflation concerns drive Asia-Pacific pension funds to alternatives

Pension funds in Asia-Pacific are planning to increase allocations to alternatives to hedge against inflation, but they lack the expertise and understanding to manage these assets in-house, according to a Cerulli Associates report. Between 2020 and 2022, these pension funds increased allocations to alternative assets by 28.4%, and are looking to outsource their alternative investments — particularly to hedge funds, private equity and private debt, according to The Cerulli Report — Asian Retirement Markets 2023: Building Security Against Uncertainty. Figures...

U.K. investors turn up the heat on boards for climate transition plans

Investors with a collective £1.8 trillion ($2.2 trillion) in assets told high-emitting FTSE 350 companies that they expect to see climate transition plans on the agenda at their next annual meetings. The 18 investors include the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum, CCLA Investment Management, Sarasin & Partners and Ethos Foundation. In letters to corporate chairmen at 35 companies, the investors said that for the past two years they asked the corporate boards to provide shareholders with the opportunity to vote on...

Japanese pension funds with $600 billion to ink ESG pact

Japanese pension funds managing 90 trillion yen ($600 billion) will join a global initiative for responsible investment, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in a speech on Oct. 3. Seven of the nation's public retirement funds will start preparations to sign the Principles for Responsible Investment, Kishida said. The PRI was started by the United Nations in 2006 to encourage investment that takes environmental, social and governance factors into consideration. As the number of members has increased globally, Japanese firms have been...

Danish pension fund completes US$520m divestment

Danish pension fund AkademikerPension has completed a fossil fuel divestment program to exit its portfolio of oil and gas stocks worth US$520 million with the sale of Italy's ENI. The fund, which oversees $20 billion in client assets, has undergone a divestment program spanning half a decade. It has now divested from BP, Chevron, Equinor, Exxon Mobil, Petrobras, PetroChina, Shell, Repsol and TotalEnergies. AkademikerPension, formerly named MP Pension, is a pension fund that admits academic degree holders, with more than 150,000 members privately or...

Chinese stocks pose reputational risk to US, Canadian pension funds amid geopolitical tensions, says Alpine Macro strategist

Chinese stocks are becoming a reputational hazard for US and Canadian pension funds because of geopolitical risks, a strategist said. Money managers are having a hard time convincing their boards to invest in Chinese assets even if they see long-term potential, as they worry about being seen to be aligning with a hostile government, according to Alpine Macro, a Montreal-based research firm. As a result, they are reducing their exposure to the country and use any market rallies as an opportunity to sell, it...

Japan government pension acts on population strain

Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund — one of the world’s most powerful investors — is overhauling the way it chooses active managers, in a bid to secure the higher returns needed to support a rapidly ageing population. As its sheer size makes it harder to achieve above average performance, the world’s largest pension fund is leaning increasingly on data science to find those managers who can beat the market. “If asset owners can develop a scientific method for selecting active...