May 2023
08May

US. Rising interest rates put corporate pension plans on end-game path

U.S. corporate pension plans are on average fully funded for the first time in 15 years, and plan executives are now in the unfamiliar position of being able to achieve the end state of their plans. The publicly traded U.S. companies with the 100 largest defined benefit plans can now boast an average funding ratio of 100.2% as of Dec. 31, according to Pensions & Investments' analysis of the latest 10-K filings. It is the first time the annual analysis has...

May 8, 2023
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05May

US. PBGC Bails Out Service, Manufacturing, Transportation Pension Funds

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. on Monday provided Special Financial Assistance totaling more than $600 million to three multiemployer plans. The plans are the Western States Office and Professional Employees Pension Plan, the United Furniture Workers Pension Fund A and the Building Material Drivers Local 436 Pension Plan. The Western States plan, based in Portland, Oregon, has 7,230 participants in the service industry. In October 2018, it cut benefits by 25% to approximately 6,000 participants under the Multiemployer Pension Reform...

May 5, 2023
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03May

US. DeSantis signs anti-ESG bill one day after state clean-energy investment

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a likely 2024 Republican presidential candidate, signed a bill Tuesday he touted as the latest salvo in his war against ESG investing, one day after the state's investment office announced a significant investment in clean energy. The law requires the Florida State Board of Administration, Tallahassee, to make investment decisions based "solely on pecuniary factors" and not include environmental, social and governance considerations. The board, which consists of Mr. DeSantis, Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, and...

May 3, 2023
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April 2023
26Apr

UN Pension Fund back on track after 2022 as low costs pay off

The United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund, UNJSPF, is clawing back 2022 losses with assets under management currently valued at $82 billion and the fund experiencing a positive return of 5 per cent so far this year. Robust returns between 2019 and 2021 had swelled the UNJSPF portfolio by 30 per cent to a record high in its 75-year history to over $91.5 billion by the end of 2021. Come 2022, and the ravages of high inflation and ensuing high...

April 26, 2023
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19Apr

Global Pension Funds Fall Short of Private Equity Targets in Q1

Pension funds worldwide fell slightly short of meeting their private equity allocation targets in the year’s first quarter due to uncertain macroeconomic conditions affecting institutional investment decisions, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Among 365 global pension funds, the median allocation to private equity was $276 million, compared with a median target allocation of $280 million, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence and Preqin. The under allocation was attributed to a relative dearth of private equity and venture capital fund...

April 19, 2023
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17Apr

Nigeria. Pension funds investment in banks reduced to N1.6trn by PFAs

The Pension Funds Administrators has reduced the funds under the Contributory Pension Scheme that was invested in fixed deposits and bank acceptances to N1.6 trillion in February. This was as the total funds under the scheme hit N15.49 trillion in the period under review, according to the National Pension Commission. PenCom disclosed this in its unaudited report on the pension funds industry portfolio for the period ended February 28, 2023. The data provided information on the approved existing schemes, Closed Pension...

April 17, 2023
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13Apr

Bank of Korea, pension service seal $35 billion FX swap deal to help ease pressure on won

South Korea's central bank on Thursday agreed a deal with the National Pension Service that allows the latter to secure up to $35 billion in funds outside the standard foreign exchange market, a move offering support to the beleaguered Korean won. The move comes in the wake of the won weakening more than 8 per cent versus the dollar in just two months, hit by a ballooning trade deficit and a fresh wave of risk aversion in global markets. The won...

April 13, 2023
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12Apr

U.K. pension funds see surplus drop as liabilities grow

The aggregate surplus of U.K. defined benefit funds covered by the PPF 7800 index declined 5.8% in March to £359.3 billion ($443.8 billion), as liabilities increased due to lower government bond yields. The surplus almost doubled for the year ended March 31, from £193 billion, according to a Tuesday update by the Pension Protection Fund, London. The PPF is the lifeboat fund for pension funds of insolvent U.K. companies. The aggregate funding ratio was 133.2% as of March 31, compared with...

April 12, 2023
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11Apr

US. Does ESG Matter in Public Finance? It Depends

In case you’ve tuned it out, there’s a battle underway between proponents of “sustainability” analysis of corporate business practices and those who favor “drill, baby, drill” and “anti-woke” free market profitability metrics and political slogans. The debate worked its way up to Capitol Hill, where Congress passed and President Biden vetoed a bill to stifle retirement account fiduciaries’ consideration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in their funds’ investments. At the state level, meanwhile, a number of oil-rich states...

April 11, 2023
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05Apr

US. NYC pension leaders to seek emissions cut plans from fund managers

New York City pension leaders will press external fund managers, including private market fund managers, on Wednesday for details on their plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions, officials said. Public, and private market managers that have faced less pressure on climate issues to date, run most of the roughly $240 billion in New York City pension fund assets. Boards overseeing the majority of that money have approved new expectations for those managers, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander said, which...

April 5, 2023
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