The latest
WPF Risk Summit

Agency risk in US public funds a formula for disaster

Agency risk in public pension funds is a big problem waiting to surface, according to Britt Harris, chief investment officer of the Teachers Retirement System of Texas. “In terms of beliefs, you have to decide whether the pension system is a profit centre for beneficiaries or a political system to influence outcomes,” he says. “Also […]
Amanda WhiteAugust 28, 2013
WPF Risk Summit

Innovating investment beliefs

The concept of investment beliefs is the basis for strategic management and, while widely used in other parts of the world, is “innovative” from a US perspective, Allan Emkin, managing director of Pension Consulting Alliance, says. In a session at the Risk Summit, convened by World Pension Forum and Conexus Financial, publisher of conexust1f.flywheelstaging.com, Emkin […]
Amanda WhiteAugust 28, 2013
WPF Risk Summit

Hybrids: best of both worlds

The funding levels of US public pension funds, falling from 100 per cent in 2001 to 77 per cent now, is the result of bad governance, according to David Villa, chief investment officer of the $91 billion State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB). He says irrational governance and imprudent management has resulted in the funding […]
Amanda WhiteAugust 27, 2013
WPF Risk Summit

US banking system needs structural reform

Continued use of quantitative easing is sowing the seeds of financial instability, according to Sheila Bair, former chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, who says that the 2008 crisis taught us a credit-driven economy is not sustainable. Bair has been an outspoken critic of quantitative easing and says there has been too much reliance […]
Amanda WhiteAugust 27, 2013
WPF Risk Summit

How to solve Chicago’s pension pain

Moody’s recent downgrade of the City of Chicago was because of its pension liabilities, according to the city’s treasurer, Stephanie Neely, who says the current actions to fix the funding deficit problems are just “re-arranging the furniture”. “The benefits and contributions are the problem: we cannot invest our way out of this,” she says, adding […]
Amanda WhiteAugust 27, 2013
Uncategorised posts

CalPERS: a new framework of economy

CalPERS has adopted 10 preliminary investment principles following a board offsite in July, but a number of topics, including the role of active management, are still under debate ahead of the September board meeting that is the deadline for the principles’ adoption. The $266-billion Californian fund began the process for establishing investment principles in January […]
Amanda WhiteAugust 16, 2013
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