Accounting: Connectivity between ISSB and IASB on accounting standards
Guest viewpoint: Pensions and the EU's plans on social protection
Greenwashing: Teasing out the intentional from the accidental
Germany's VBL: A transformative journey
Japan: New hand on the tiller
Country Report – Pensions in UK
Portfolio Strategy – Fixed Income (May 2023)
Top news
German CDU party relights early retirement debate
Number of employees opting for early retirement has grown from 151,000 in 2014 to 270,000 in 2021
AP7 hands LGIM large active climate-transition equities mandate
Swedish pensions giant says new partnership is first time it has combined a focus on firms able to transition with active ownership
Pension professionals increasingly dissatisfied with pensions policy, says PMI
However, there is scope for improvement, according to the Institute
‘World’s first’ nature targets unveiled in bumper week for natural capital developments
Guidance for entities wishing to start setting nature-related targets was launched by the Science Based Targets Network
Analysis: How to navigate cyber security crisis management
More than 400 pension funds using Capita’s services should check whether their scheme’s data could be affected
New PPF proposals would represent ‘seismic changes’ to UK pensions landscape
Plans would mean ‘struggling’ DB schemes could choose to opt-in to the Pension Protection Fund
Norway moves ahead with flexible buffer rules for legacy DB
Pension funds, insurance companies divided on issue of proposed ceiling on buffer fund
DACH roundup: German pension schemes’ investments in Spezialfonds drop
Plus: European Commission green lights UBS-Credit Suisse merger
NEST advances into private markets as AUM reach £30bn
‘NEST needed an investment framework in place that could rapidly grow’, says Liz Fernando, NEST’s CIO
UK roundup: Brunel updates climate policy following review
Plus: Smart Pension reaches £3bn in total assets amid market consolidation; Timpson pension fund signs buy-in deal with Just Group
DACH roundup: Ethos pushes Glencore on transparent climate strategy
Plus: VBV Vorsorgekasse signs biodiversity pledge, BaFin fines Nomura Financial Products
LCH: The other side of the mirror
Isabelle Girolami undoubtedly has a strong background in financial services, having worked for a range of very different institutions in very different roles. She was COO at the fixed income division of BNP Paribas, before going on to a similar role at Bear Stearns, the bank that failed early in 2008 and which was subsumed into JP Morgan. Prior to her current role at LCH she was global head of markets at Crédit Agricole.
Germany's VBL: A transformative journey
Michael Leinwand (pictured), CIO of Germany’s VBL, talks to Luigi Serenelli about the pension fund’s growth over the past years and about its evolving responsible investment strategy
Pension funds on the record: A new role for alternative investments for Veritas
The degree of diversification that alternative portfolios typically provide can be less than many institutions think. Veritas has reorganised its alternatives portfolio to deliver better diversification
Nikko Asset Management: Complex, creative thinking
Stefanie Drews is at home with complexity. She speaks several languages fluently, including Japanese, and tells us she still does her maths in Italian.
PZU TFI: Building the future of Polish pensions
Marcin Żółtek (pictured), CEO of PZU TFI, one of Poland’s largest managers of DC pension savings, tells Jakub Janas and Carlo Svaluto Moreolo about the firm’s role in the Polish pension system
People moves: BT Pension Scheme to replace chair of trustees
Aegon, AXA IM, LGIM, William Blair, K3 Advisory, BTPS, Insight Investment, Industriens Pension, LV, Broadstone, BaFin
PensionDanmark to train up top civil servant for CEO role
Danish labour-market pension fund appoints Finance Ministry man Peter Stensgaard Mørch as long-term CEO, with CIO leading the fund in the meantime
Japan: New hand on the tiller
Kazuo Ueda, is the first new governor of the Bank of Japan (BoJ) in 10 years. One of outgoing governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s last moves was to widen the yield curve control (YCC) band on 10-year bonds from +/-25bps to +/-50bps. The reaction from the bond market over the following few days was to trade to the new upper limit.
Emerging markets decarbonisation
The International Energy Agency estimates that developing economies and emerging markets are responsible for more than two-thirds of global carbon emissions.
Private equity fundamentals resilient in headwinds
The economy and markets are beset with headwinds, and private equity assets are unlikely to be impervious. The concerns with the asset class are wide-ranging, from difficult financing conditions to rising interest rates, squeezed corporate margins and closed exit routes.
US: Politics drive ESG debate
Three Republican candidates for the White House are vocal advocates against pension funds adopting environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment practices.
Australia: Caps, concessions and class war
The Australian Federal government recently moved to make a “modest” change to the nation’s superannuation system which, it says, will save A$2bn (€1.2bn) a year for its over-stretched budget.
Alecta’s crisis management
It can certainly hurt a pension provider when investments go badly, but an organisation’s next steps in response to disastrous losses are vital.
Viewpoint: Australian-style reforms can unlock green growth and boost pension performance
Rewriting UK pension rules could unlock green growth, directing much-needed investment into sustainable infrastructure
Viewpoint: Differentiation – the future of professional pension trusteeship
When purchasing professional services, choice is good. Differentiated choice is even better.
CDC: finally off the starting blocks
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) last month approved the Royal Mail Collective Pension Plan as the first registered collective defined contribution (CDC) scheme in the UK
Alecta’s crisis management
It can certainly hurt a pension provider when investments go badly, but an organisation’s next steps in response to disastrous losses are vital.
Blame will not solve the issues raised by the LDI crisis
The chain of events that led to the UK’s liability-driven investment (LDI) crisis, a high-profile inquiry by the UK Parliament, and a time of anxiety and introspection in the country’s pension industry, started well before then prime minister Liz Truss’s government and its somewhat reckless ‘growth plan’.
Portfolio Strategy – Fixed Income (May 2023)
Last year ushered in a new era for global fixed income and credit markets. It was the worst, in terms of returns, for bond investors in years, but it signalled a regime change. Investors need to be prepared for structurally higher inflation and rates, as well as higher volatility. But for fixed income managers, this is an environment where value is easier to find. Our report looks at this new beginning for fixed income investors, and at how selectivity has become key in the high yield and loan markets.
Portfolio Strategy - Emerging Market Equities
The Adani corporate scandal in India brought the issue of corporate governance in emerging markets back to the fore. As Lynn Strongin Dodds finds, however, emerging market corporates are slowly adapting to the requirements of institutional investors in terms of governance.
Portfolio Strategy – Private debt
The rise in interest rates and inflation throughout 2022 brought traditional fixed-income assets back into focus for investors. The threat of a recession, the pressure on investors to maintain liquidity in portfolios and the ‘denominator effect’, which sees investors over-allocated to unlisted assets after a torrid 2022 for listed equities and bonds, are all facts that would suggest that private debt markets will suffer. However, investors are still backing experienced private debt managers and allocations to the asset class are forecast to grow further in the medium term.
Equities: Thematic funds tap into future trends
Themes have long captured the imagination of retail investors. Now institutions are showing interest, despite the lack of clear definitions
Asset Class Report - Fixed Income
Last year was the worst in recent decades for both government bonds and credit, with portfolio returns worse than most professionals have experienced in their careers. But is the tide finally shifting as inflation starts to moderate and terminal policy rates are in sight? In any case, geopolitical risks and inflation are not set to go away, and recession will inevitably take a toll on corporate issuers.
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