Sarah Rundell

Sort content by

NEST into infrastructure and property

The National Employment Savings Trust, NEST, the UK government-backed pension scheme set up a year ago with the introduction of auto-enrolment, developed a new allocation to real estate this summer. Now it is planning to add infrastructure to its illiquid allocations in a move reflective of a change of thinking to embrace more risk. NEST’s

The Pension Trust: many schemes, one trust

“We are slightly unusual,” admits David Adkins, chief investment officer of The Pensions Trust (TPT), the £5.5-billion ($8.7-billion) pension fund founded after the end of World War II to provide retirement benefits for social workers. Talking from the trust’s Moorgate headquarters in London, Adkins explains how its umbrella structure has grown to provide pensions for

BT scheme treads carefully in emerging markets

Sunil Krishnan, head of market strategy at $62-billion British Telecom Pension Scheme Management Limited (BTPS), the United Kingdom’s largest pension fund for employees of global telecoms operator BT Group, has sage advice for investors contemplating their exposure to emerging markets. Examining the pros and cons of the asset class, Krishnan counsels caution. Speaking at a

Liquidity tightens, volatility rises

How should pension funds in the United Kingdom best prepare for the government unwinding quantitive easing (QE) and tightening monetary policy? The Bank of England isn’t showing any signs of ending QE just yet, its policy begun in 2009 and designed to stimulate the economy by creating new money to buy government bonds. But QE

Dynamic allocation using minimum volatility

Active managers who are increasingly on the ropes as beta strategies encroach upon their alpha returns can take heart from the latest research from index provider MSCI. In the latest insight from Barra, Dynamic Allocation Strategies Using Minimum Volatility: Detecting Regime Shifts to Enhance Active & Passive Investing, Philippe Durand and John Regino argue that

Full throttle, part time at BP fund

Sally Bridgeland, chief executive of BP Pension Trustees, the £18.5-billion ($28.7 billion) pension fund for employees of one the world’s biggest oil companies, only works part-time. She made the decision after a near-fatal skiing accident when she says her life passed before her. She is BP’s first group leader to do so and is evangelical