Perspective - Blended finance: the ultimate impact investment
Strategically Speaking - AlbaCore Capital: Alternative credit with pension fund roots
How we run our money - AP7: Premium risk taker
Portfolio Strategy - Fixed Income
Country Report - Pensions in Central & Eastern Europe
Special report - Sustainability & Reporting
Top news
German pension funds plan higher exposure to alternative assets
VBL, BVK and ÄVWL disclose details of their alternatives portfolios
Metlife, Zurich complete $3.5bn longevity swap
Plus: IMI pension fund in buy-in deal with PIC, Just Group completes £345m buy-in transaction
Italian government starts pension reform talks with unions
The negative impact of past reforms on pensions for women was discussed, among other things
Franklin Templeton nabs Anne Simpson for new sustainability role
Anne Simpson has been at CalPERS since 2009 and was the inaugural chair of Climate Action 100+
Cushon expands business with Creative acquisition
This is the master trust’s third workplace pension acquisition in two years
Institutional investors submit healthy foods resolution at Unilever
GMPF, Actiam, Candriam among co-filers
De-risking roundup: Gallaher Pensions’ £1.7bn buy-in deal with Standard Life
Plus: 2022 to be biggest pension scheme de-risking year
East Sussex Pension Fund says farewell to fossils with Osmosis global equity mandate
UK local authority pension fund says passive equity switch removes £17m of fossil fuel shares from portfolio
People moves: Shell’s pensions head joins PSF in CEO role
The Pension Superfund, Border to Coast, State Street Global Advisors, Goldman Sachs AM, PKA, ThomasLloyd, Dalriada Trustees, Charles Stanley
Border to Coast pushes for positive change as it reviews policies
NBIM says CDSB should widen its definition of social data
Number of pensionless Dutch workers approaches one million
European, UK institutions lead in CDP non-disclosure campaign
Migros beats benchmark returning 8.5% with real assets strategy
Larry Fink hails ‘power of capitalism’ in latest Dear CEO letter
Industriens Pension reports 66% return on private equities in 2021
APG invests $750m in new SDG-focused EM private credit fund
Equities replace bonds as top asset class for Publica’s 4.4% net returns
Swiss corporate schemes record average return of 10%, says WTW
Lord Myners obituary
UK proceeds with pension fund nudge-to-guidance rules
German investors take pragmatic approach to upcoming EU Taxonomy
AP7 reports record 31.5% return in 2021 for its €76bn equity fund
Long term matters: ISSB, please don’t choose to play small
The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) is a major development. ISSB has rightly made climate risk its initial priority but now has an important choice to make. Will it help investors address climate-related systemic risk or will it continue with ‘business as usual’, enabling investors to play small?
Notes from the Netherlands: It’s the implementation, stupid
The Dutch pensions regulator, DNB, praised pension funds in a recent report for having better structures in place to manage their exposure to climate risk than banks and insurance firms. But as always, the devil is in the detail.
Strategically Speaking - AlbaCore Capital: Alternative credit with pension fund roots
AlbaCore Capital, a Europe-based alternative credit specialist with North American roots, is a fairly rare example of an asset management company that was spun off from a pension fund. David Allen, founder and CIO, established the company in 2016, with a team of European alternative credit specialists that he led from within the $542bn (€366bn) Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).
How we run our money - AP7: Premium risk taker
Ingrid Albinsson (pictured), CIO of Sweden’s AP7, talks to Rachel Fixsen about the fund’s mission to provide a default option for Swedish premium pension savers
On the record: Asset allocation
Three European pension funds discuss their outlook for 2021 and beyond, amid the uncertainty caused by inflation and a new strain of the coronavirus
Exit Interview: Heribert Karch, former CEO of MetallRente
“I have been managing director at MetallRente since the beginning, exactly since 1 November 2001,” says Heribert Karch, weeks before leaving his post after 20 years at the helm of the German pension scheme. MetallRente has also just celebrated the twentieth anniversary of its foundation.
Strategically speaking: IFM Investors
When IFM Investors and its fellow consortium members cracked open the bubbly last month on their successful bid for Sydney Airport following a third revised offer, it marked a bet on a vigorous and sustained recovery in passenger aviation. After all, airports globally, including Sydney, had come to resemble “parking lots for planes”, in the words of IFM Investors CEO David Neal.
People moves: Shell’s pensions head joins PSF in CEO role
The Pension Superfund, Border to Coast, State Street Global Advisors, Goldman Sachs AM, PKA, ThomasLloyd, Dalriada Trustees, Charles Stanley
Lord Myners obituary
‘He was tireless, and was happiest when his diary was full, which it was almost constantly,’ says Cevian’s Zimmerman
Briefing: EU strengthens rules on green disclosure
Investment firms need to familiarise themselves with a range of new environmental issues to prepare for a European Union law aimed at consistent environmental disclosures that also support investment decisions on environmental sustainability.
Briefing - Private equity: the case for transparency
A recent paper published by US-based academic Ashby Monk and others arguably says it all in its title – *An Economic Case for Transparency in Private Equity*.
Briefing: Unfinished business on IORP II
Almost three years on from the effective date for the implementation of IORP II, the directive is still being worked on, amended and adapted by Europe’s regulators. What will 2022 bring for the regulation of the EU’s pension funds?
Notes from the Netherlands: Too eager to index
Most Dutch pensioners have been craving indexation ever since the financial crisis in 2008-09. Understandably, patience is running thin, especially now that inflation has reached its highest level since the introduction of the euro.
No right side to the inflation debate
The question of whether the current trend of rising inflation is a transitory or permanent one is not trivial. It is forcing the institutional investor community to reflect on their long-term investment strategies. Investors have to review their current approaches and get ready to make significant changes if their views prove incorrect.
Getting ahead of the skill curve
Twenty years ago, in December 2001, Denmark’s giant labour market pension fund ATP implemented an interest-rate swap. That doesn’t seem too shocking now as liability-driven investment (LDI) is a mature and well-understood concept that is embedded in pension risk-management and regulatory practice.
Viewpoint: Unlocking the UK’s entrepreneurial spirit
Unlocking pension funding and changing mindsets can catalyse the true potential of successful small businesses, says Chris Hulatt, co-founder of Octopus Group
Guest Viewpoint - Sebastien Betermier: Four takeaways for equitable CDC pension design
The combination of ultra-low interest rates and high longevity is putting a major strain on retirement systems across the globe. A recent report by the World Economic Forum predicts that the global gap between retirement savings and retirement needs will reach $400trn by 2050.
Long term matters: ISSB, please don’t choose to play small
The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) is a major development. ISSB has rightly made climate risk its initial priority but now has an important choice to make. Will it help investors address climate-related systemic risk or will it continue with ‘business as usual’, enabling investors to play small?
News Notes: PEPP cap elicits muted response
The date for authorisation for the so-called Pan-European personal pension product (PEPP) is fast approaching – 22 March 2022 – and yet the European pensions market seems to be relatively quiet about it.
Notes from the Netherlands: It’s the implementation, stupid
The Dutch pensions regulator, DNB, praised pension funds in a recent report for having better structures in place to manage their exposure to climate risk than banks and insurance firms. But as always, the devil is in the detail.
Portfolio Strategy - Fixed Income
As the earnings season gets underway in early January, we look at 2021’s bumper level of bank debt issuance, in particular from Bank of America, JP Morgan and Citigroup, which have all seen big increases in deposits. Banks look set to benefit from rising rates this year, but also from their historically large capital buffers, diverse funding levels and central bank liquidity backstops and offer attractive valuations.
Asset Class - Equities: Focus on tech and social media
Oh MAAAN! FAANG stocks (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google) are definitely due a rebrand now Facebook has restyled itself as Meta Platforms, Inc. While a rebrand can refresh perceptions, Facebook’s underlying business issues look more intractable, posing questions for long-term investors. We look at two topics in our equities report: how big tech companies are maturing, and how social media companies’ activities are dividing investor opinions.
Asset class: Private equity
Co-investment in private equity is easier said than done: we look at what it takes to be a successful co-investor. We also look at Africa where there are an array of opportunities for investors
Emerging market debt
Our opening article in this report looks at emerging market private credit. In EMs there is a $100bn corporate funding gap with 90% of lending through banks. But we find EMD managers broadly cautious overall, particularly on China, with interviews conducted before the Evergrande story broke. Lastly, we look at Latin America, where investors encounter populism and social unrest but sustainability bond issuance is booming.
Asset class: Equities
The number of listed companies in the US and the UK has fallen dramatically over the past quarter century, putting more pressure on institutional investors to invest in private equity, as we cover in this report. The report also looks at the emerging market small-cap sector and UK’s micro caps.
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