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Investor Profile

M&S fund: a template for de-risking

Deficit and underfunding at the £6.7-billion ($10.4-billion) pension fund for employees of United Kingdom retailer Marks and Spencer had long weighed down one of the high street’s best known names. But a sustained, conservative investment strategy characterised by a “keen focus on risk management” and “an understanding of the scheme’s liabilities” has helped to turn […]
Sarah RundellAugust 9, 2013
Investor Profile

The real star of Washington State

Renowned academic Ashby Monk said the best way to lure talent to US public sector retirement funds unable to pay Wall Street salaries was to hire the green, the grey or the grounded. With a 30-year career spanning business, government and media, Theresa Whitmarsh, executive director of the $92.1-billion Washington State Investment Board (WSIB) laughs […]
Sarah RundellAugust 7, 2013
Uncategorised posts

Johnson urges pension simplicity

There is a David-and-Goliath feeling to the battle Michael Johnson, a research fellow at the London-based think tank the Centre for Policy Studies, is waging against the pension industry. His research, which lays out the case for radically simplifying all aspects of the United Kingdom’s pension sector, has earned him a reputation as a maverick. […]
Sarah RundellJuly 26, 2013
Investor Profile

Santander: between its sponsor and a hard place

Antony Barker has only been director of pensions at the £8-billion ($12.2-billion) Santander Pension Fund, a defined benefit scheme for employees of the UK arm of the Spanish-owned bank, since August last year. Charged with rejuvenating the pension scheme, a worrying source of risk blighting the fortunes of the bank and a thorn in the […]
Sarah RundellJuly 24, 2013
Investor Profile

New Jersey: a state of long-term agility

As another fiscal year draws to a close Tim Walsh, director of the New Jersey Division of Investment, investment managers of the $75.64-billion New Jersey Pension Fund, reflects on another good year. “It’s been a double-digit year with the best asset classes, plain vanilla US equities and structured credit,” he says speaking from the Division […]
Sarah RundellJuly 19, 2013
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