Letter from the US
Retirement concerns
01 May 2013
“Our priority is to be sure that Americans save enough for retirement,” explains CEO and executive director of the American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA), Brian Graff. The...
Step-change for DC
02 Apr 2013
“Our retirement philosophy is changing the industry”. So says Glenn Dial, head of retirement for Allianz Global Investors (AGI). Dial has been in charge of this business in the US since February...
Big picture questions
01 Mar 2013
BlackRock, the world’s largest money manager, has reached a record $3.8trn (€2.8trn) in assets, about 60% of which is for institutional clients, including pensions. CEO Larry Fink, commenting on his...
Back from the edge
01 Feb 2013
If there was a clear message from the whole ‘fiscal cliff’ debate, it is that social security will be affected sooner or later. Employees need to realise that company-sponsored pension plans will...
Battle of the benefits
02 Jan 2013
Obama’s healthcare reform will be the biggest new law affecting US companies in 2013. But will it have an impact on pension funds? Healthcare and retirement benefits are managed separately, but a...
Pension uncertainties
01 Dec 2012
Social Security reform was notably absent from the 2012 US presidential campaign. The only time pensions became an issue that differentiated the two candidates was during the second TV debate, when...
Colleges count losses
01 Nov 2012
US college and university endowments had the worst returns of any insitutional investor in the year ended 30 June 2012. Even Grinnell College’s endowment suffered a 4% loss, as the school’s CIO,...
LIBOR litigation looms
01 Oct 2012
US pension funds are still trying to understand the impact of the LIBOR scandal on their assets to assess whether they should launch a class action against the banks involved in the case. The matter...
MAP-21 skirts IASB
03 Sep 2012
Under the seemingly innocuous Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (or MAP-21 for short), new accounting rules have been approved in the US that will affect their private pension funds....
Taft-Hartley blues
02 Jul 2012
Labour unions are not having the best time. Last month they suffered a major setback in Wisconsin, where Governor Walker won a recall election against union members and Democrats, who were protesting ...
Wisdom of independence
01 Jun 2012
In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, independent US asset managers have increased their revenues and profitability more than the asset-management subsidiaries of the larger US financial...
Politics of change
01 May 2012
The nomination of Mitt Romney as the Republican candidate to the White House may bring a lot of attention to the US pension fund industry. If he wins the election on 6 November, he could introduce a...
Funds join the fray
02 Apr 2012
This proxy season in the US is likely to be highly politicised, with the public sector’s pension funds playing a big role. In fact, it will be a test for several rules introduced by the Dodd-Frank...
Bankruptcy wave threat
01 Mar 2012
A new wave of bankruptcies is set to put more pressure on the Pension Benefit
Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), the US pension agency that insures pension benefits of private pension plans covering some...
In the line of fire
01 Feb 2012
The $225bn (€177bn) California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) used to be considered a leader in setting new trends, such as investing to improve companies’ corporate governance or to...
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