DB beats DC in unequal race
The average corporate defined-benefit plan in the US has outperformed the Callan DC index by 1.61 per cent since 2006, although this is partly due to a difference in fee reporting.
Investors are watching conflict in the Middle East closely as inflationary pressures begin to build beneath the surface. One of the challenges for many investors is reduced exposure to the hedging benefits of fossil fuels in listed, and private markets.
The average corporate defined-benefit plan in the US has outperformed the Callan DC index by 1.61 per cent since 2006, although this is partly due to a difference in fee reporting.
Executive vice-president and head of client analytics at PIMCO, Sebastien Page, who is tasked with bringing the intellectual and analytical capital of the manager to clients in a new consultant-type role, says tail-risk hedging is an effective way to reduce volatility and enhance returns.
Equities allocations have been slashed as a result of government changes to the liabilities of the Fonds de Reserve pour les Retraites (FFR) which prompted changes to the fund’s investment policy.
The natural disaster in Japan, that has tragically killed more than 3,000 people, caused millions of dollars damage and thrown the Middle East off the front pages, could also mark a pivotal moment in investments, with markets back to being triggered by macro concerns.
Inflation is a big risk for most pension funds around the world. The question is: what do you do about it? The interesting point, though, is if inflation is a ‘fat tail’ risk, maybe it’s already been too widely signalled.
Cost is the flagrant motivation in the trend for US pension funds to move assets in-house, but as this article explores, budgets also need to extend to the demands of investment research, travel and staff incentive compensation.
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