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Controlling strategy inhouse at UK coal scheme

Until a few years ago, every aspect of the investment strategy at the UK’s £20-billion ($32-billion) coal industry pension scheme was outsourced. The main inhouse task at the pension fund was benefit payment but now, in a fresh approach spearheaded by straight-talking 38-year old New Zealander, Stefan Dunatov, the new chief investment officer of the

Swiss powerhouse: the Sulzer pension fund

Sulzer is a Swiss manufacturer with a proud past. From pioneering the diesel engine to making the specialist pumps that drive power production around the world, it has been around for 178 years. Perhaps leveraging off such a rich history, the company’s pension scheme is very much looking into the future thanks to solid returns

Railpen, the open DB fund with locomotion

Despite the constant pull on Railpen chief executive Chris Hitchen’s expertise in other directions, most recently helping to run NEST, the UK government’s new low-cost pension scheme, he is resolute that his primary task is ensuring Railpen, inhouse manager of the £19-billion ($30.4 billion) pension scheme for Britain’s rail industry, successfully delivers on its monthly

USS powers into diversity

In the past few years the £34-billion ($54.7 billion) Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has substantially diversified its asset allocation, including a large alternatives allocation, and extended its investment team from 65 to 105. In the latest chapter of the fund’s investment department reincarnation, from October this year a separate but fully owned USS company, USS

Investing hybrid or armed wing of ministry?

France’s Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC) has just provided fresh ammunition for critics who say the state-backed investor distorts markets by acting as the “armed wing” of the French finance ministry. On October 17, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault unveiled a new public investment bank, jointly owned by the CDC and the government, to lend

Defined benefit thrives at Migros

Success stories at pension funds are a real rarity in crisis-ravaged Europe, with deficits hampering countless major international firms. The CHF16.9-billion ($18.1-billion) pension fund of Swiss supermarket cooperative, Migros, is firmly in the blessed minority of funds enjoying rude health. Migros Pensionskasse was even able to boost its surplus to $1.3 billion in 2011 while