September 2024

Global equities attract more pension investments

It is expected to continue as larger pension plans diversify their equity strategies. Pension funds are increasingly shifting towards global equity mandates as part of their investment strategies, reflecting a growing interest in international equities. According to Lesley-Ann Morgan, Global head of Pensions and Retirement, and Rachel Munnery, Product Strategy director at Schroders, sector flow data revealed a significant trend of positive net sales in global large-cap equities, contrasting with the consistent net outflows from regional equity mandates. Corporate defined benefit (DB) plans,...

June 2021

New Giant Saudi Pension Fund Aims to Crack World’s Top 10 Ranks

Saudi Arabia gave a first glimpse of the ambition behind the merger of two of its pension and insurance funds with a plan to rival the world’s largest investors. The new entity will boast assets of over $250 billion, according to the chief executive officer of Hassana Investment Co, the investment management arm of the kingdom’s General Organization of Social Insurance. GOSI, as the fund is known, will combine with the Public Pension Agency in a move that will reduce...

May 2020

Tesla’s Newest Board Member Talks About Changing The World Through Japan’s $1.5 Trillion Pension Fund

By putting environmental, social, and governance (ESG) at the heart of the world’s largest pension fund’s investments, Hiromichi Mizuno (known as Hiro) not only rocked the world of traditional pension finance but also had a profound impact on the cause of socially responsible investing. During his tenure as the Executive Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of Japan’s $1.5 trillion Global Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), Mizuno reached the conclusion that the fund had become so big that it essentially...

April 2020

Coronavirus will make US cities feel the pressure of pension debt

Municipal pension debt is among the many aspects of the economy that have been severely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 not only exposes, but also further threatens the already-weak fiscal health of municipal retirement plans. Inaction on this front could mean insolvent pension plans dragging some of the nation’s largest cities into bankruptcy. After all, when the stock market takes a hit, so do pensions. This is because most of the typical pension funds’ income is from returns...