December 2023
11Dec

BP pension nears deal to sell portfolio worth as much as $800m

The defined benefit pension scheme of one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies is close to offloading a portfolio of private market fund stakes, Secondaries Investor has learned. BP’s DB pension has been shopping a portfolio around $700 million to $800 million, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Campbell Lutyens is understood to be the adviser on the deal. The sale of the portfolio started in the second quarter of this year, according to the two sources. The...

December 11, 2023
News,
Read more...
08Dec

Global Public Pensions 2023

By Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum The Global Public Pensions 2023 report explores how public pension and sovereign funds are building optimal investment strategies to address the uncertain economic environment and factor sustainability into their portfolios. The report draws on surveys, discussions, and written contributions from 22 global public funds across the world with combined assets under management of $4.3tn. These include the likes of Singapore’s GIC, Canada’s CDPQ, Australia’s Future Fund and India’s National Infrastructure Investment Fund. It...

December 8, 2023
Books, Books, Reports, System Characterization, , , ,
Read more...
08Dec

How Higher Interest Rates Are Changing Focus of Fully Funded Pension Funds

Fully funded due to higher discount rates and investment performance, many corporate defined benefit pension funds are shifting their investment goals to maintaining that funding progress, from their prior focus of maximizing investment returns. While many have had significant assets dedicated to liability-driven investing in recent years, they are finding it is time to acknowledge the higher-yield, better-funding environment. As a result, a common approach among the cohort is to examine “overlap in plan holdings, inadequate hedging of liabilities and...

December 8, 2023
News,
Read more...
08Dec

Japan’s SMBC pension fund explores boosting exposures to alternatives

Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) Pension Fund, managing assets worth 1 trillion yen ($6.6 billion), is poised to increase investments in illiquid alternatives, including infrastructure private equity and debt aimed at maximizing returns. Anticipating a shift in domestic interest rates with the expected exit of the Bank of Japan (BOJ) from its ultra-easy monetary policy, the pension fund is considering reassessing its longstanding strategy of investing Japanese government bonds (JGBs), which has comprised only about 1 per cent of...

December 8, 2023
News, ,
Read more...
06Dec

Pension scheme consolidation expected to continue into 2024

The UK’s 5,000 corporate defined benefit (DB) pension schemes recorded a near record surplus of £245bn in November, according to PwC’s Buyout Index, showing that schemes continue to have sufficient assets on average to ‘buyout’ their pension promises. Meanwhile, PwC’s Low Reliance Index has had a record month with a surplus of £380bn. This index assumes schemes invest in low-risk, income-generating assets like bonds, which should mean the pension scheme is unlikely to call on the sponsor for further funding. As...

December 6, 2023
News,
Read more...
06Dec

AI and pension funds: Is AI a safe bet for retirement investment?

Pension funds are in a perpetual crisis worldwide, with low demographic rates in many countries foreshadowing a dim future for such investments, combined with young people’s lack of faith in the continued existence of social security models. In order to stay afloat, many pension funds have strived to remain apprised of new investment opportunities, including cryptocurrencies. According to a 2022 study published by the CFA Institute, “94% of state and government-sponsored pension funds are invested in one or more cryptocurrencies.” But pension fund...

December 6, 2023
News, ,
Read more...
04Dec

Almost a third of UK adults unaware of old pension pots

Almost a third of adults in the UK suspect that they may have a pension pot that they are either unaware of or have not considered before. Research carried out by Opinium for the fintech company Gretel found that 30 per cent of respondents believe they may be in the dark about some of their pension savings. Almost three in 10 UK adults also believe they have at least one lost or dormant investment vehicle, bank account, child trust fund or...

December 4, 2023
News,
Read more...
04Dec

Dutch pension fund PMT sells most fossil fuel holdings

Pensioenfonds Metaal & Techniek (PMT) has divested from 40 oil and gas companies, but remains invested in nine companies with “sufficiently convincing plans” for the energy transition and carbon reduction. All of the retained companies are headquartered in Europe. Over the past two years, the pension fund had asked all companies in the oil and gas sector in which it invests to commit to the Paris Agreement and set sufficiently ambitious and substantiated CO2 reduction targets. Forty of those companies could not meet...

December 4, 2023
News, , ,
Read more...
01Dec

Meeting multiple objectives: The pension fund addressing mental health

With the right governance models pension funds can play a role in broader societal issues, such as mental health in the workplace, while still delivering financial security for members. A unique “democratic governance structure” at the Danish Velliv Association allows it to manage multiple objectives – delivering value to members and focusing philanthropic efforts on mental health in the workplace –  chief executive Lars Wallberg told delegates at the Sustainability in Practice conference at Oxford University. The commercial Danish pension...

December 1, 2023
News,
Read more...

November 2023
30Nov

US. Corporate Pensions are Looking to Make Changes to Liability-Driven Investment Allocations

A new study commissioned by Franklin Templeton and conducted by Coalition Greenwich reveals corporate pension plans are signaling changes to their liability-driven investment (LDI) approaches in the current interest rate environment. The first dedicated Corporate Defined Benefit (DB) LDI research in over five years marks a distinct inflection point in pension plan management strategy and LDI approaches of the top US Corporate DB plans. “We have seen a dramatic shift in the funding ratio over a short period of time...

November 30, 2023
News,
Read more...