July 2024
19Jul

Dirty Air and Green Investments: The Impact of Pollution Information on Portfolio Allocations

By Raymond Fisman, Pulak Ghosh, Arkodipta Sarkar & Jian Zhang We study exposure to pollution information and investment portfolio allocations, exploiting the rollout of air quality monitoring stations in India. Using a triple-differences framework, we show that retail investors' investments in "brown" stocks are negatively related to local air pollution after a monitoring station appears nearby, with particularly pronounced effects on ``alert'' dates when air quality is listed as harmful to the general population. The effect of pollution information on...

July 19, 2024
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19Jul

At world’s biggest asset managers, ESG fund launches quietly stalling

At some of the world’s biggest asset managers, ESG fund launches are quietly stalling. BlackRock, Deutsche Bank's DWS Group, Invesco and the asset management arm of UBS Group are among firms that have cut the number of new funds with environmental, social and governance mandates, according to data provided by Morningstar Direct. This year through the end of May, just over 100 ESG funds were launched globally, putting the industry on track to fall well short of levels seen in recent years, the...

July 19, 2024
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18Jul

Ghana. Editorial: Further engagement required to resolve outstanding issues on pensions

Following SSNIT’s decision to halt the sale of 60 percent of its shares in four hotels, a move leading to the suspension of a planned nationwide strike on Monday, July 15, 2024, Organised Labour has issued a one-month ultimatum for the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to address unresolved issues. Dr. Yaw Baah, Secretary General-Trades Union Congress, speaking on behalf of Organised Labour, called-off the strike action after an emergency meeting of labour union leaders on Monday. Since 2018,...

July 18, 2024
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16Jul

How ‘Alternative Investments’ Are Dragging Down Pension Performance

A prominent and well-regarded researcher, himself a founder of a pension consulting firm, recently released a bombshell Social Science Network report that reveals the underperformance of public pensions’ so-called alternative investments in high-fee vehicles such as private equity, private credit, real estate and hedge funds. Using 15 years of data from respected sources, the analysis by Richard Ennis shows a clear trend toward increased allocations to nontraditional investment products and fund-level underperformance relative to common actuarial benchmarks caused by these products’...

July 16, 2024
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12Jul

Global Pension Assets Study. 2024

By Thinking Ahead Institute The study covers 22 pension markets in the world (P22). They have pension assets of USD 55,688 bn. The P22 markets are: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, UK, US. 91% of P22 assets are in the seven P7 largest markets. A deeper analysis is performed for the P7, with assets of USD 50,842 bn. P7 markets are: Australia, Canada, Japan,...

July 12, 2024
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12Jul

Sustainable Investing in Pensions: Top Tips for Sponsors of Pension Schemes

 By Accounting for Sustainability This top tips guidance is written for organizations that sponsor a pension scheme on the why and how to engage with your pension trustees on sustainable investing. Just as more and more companies are embedding social and environmental risk and opportunity into strategy and decision making, it is vital that their pension schemes follow suit. The impact that climate change and other environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks can have on value and returns is driving changes across...

July 12, 2024
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12Jul

Unfunded U.S. public pension liabilities fall for fourth year in a row — Moody’s

Unfunded liabilities for U.S. state and local pension plans fell for a fourth year in a row to around $2.5 trillion as of June 30, a plunge of almost 60% from a historic high of $6 trillion in 2020, according to a July 9 report from Moody’s Ratings. Strong market returns for the latest year contributed to that progress, with investment gains of almost 11% topping public fund target returns of between 6.75% and 7.25%. But higher interest rates did the...

July 12, 2024
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11Jul

Pensions and their role on the threat of climate change

Climate change is an enormous challenge and threat globally. Large investors, such as pension schemes, can have a significant influence in addressing this challenge. NetZeroWeekTM provides a reminder of the risks we face and actions that can be taken. In this article, we aim to answer two important questions: • Do pension schemes have a duty to address the threat of climate change; and • What role can pension schemes play in addressing the challenges faced? As long-term investors, trustees of pension schemes...

July 11, 2024
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10Jul

US Remains Biggest Force in Pension Realm, per Study

The U.S. continues to dominate the world’s pension system, according to a study by the Thinking Ahead Institute, a research organization sponsored by financial services giant WTW. As of year-end 2023, U.S. pension assets (both defined benefit and defined contribution) made up 63.9% of the globe’s 22 highest-value pension-providing nations, up from 56.5% 10 years before, the study indicated. That may have something to do with the large amount U.S. pension providers allocate to equities—42%—over a span when stocks did well. Among the...

July 10, 2024
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09Jul

Nigeria. Pension fund assets increased to N20.22trn in May 2024, says PenCom

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) says total pension fund assets increased to N20.22 trillion in May 2024. This is an increase of 2.23 percent compared to the N19.78 trillion recorded in April 2024, according to PenCom’s data on the pension funds industry portfolio for the period ended May 31. The commission’s data showed that 63.22 percent or N12.78 trillion of the total funds were invested in federal government securities, comprising bonds and treasury bills. PenCom said about 10.83 percent of the funds were invested in...

July 9, 2024
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