APG has successfully shifted its smaller pension fund clients to the new defined contribution pension system and now begins the huge task of moving the giant ABP as well. The defined contribution system has many implications including shedding more than 1000 staff at APG and moving investments more into riskier assets.
Opportunities exist to improve portfolio efficiency among Germany’s pension funds, but it will create additional governance requirements. The conservatism of the portfolios is seemingly more difficult to move and reflects the higher degree of comfort required by German investors. Head of investments in Germany for Willis Towers Watson argues it is important to note that the short-term comfort this may provide may well come at a long-term cost.
Art Alfaro is executive director of the Texas Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems, , the largest provider of pension trustee training and continuing education for pension system trustees and administrators in Texas, beelieves the trustees and administrators behind Texas’s 93 retirement systems illustrate how board education pays off.
The experience of the collaboration between six large US insurers to successfully invest in affordable multi-family rental housing is a lesson for any institutional investor looking to impact investing.
Air Canada, the pension fund for Canada’s flagship carrier, is preparing to manage external assets in a bid to let other pension funds and institutions tap into its top decile performance and 65-strong expert internal team.
Active investing in US large caps has detracted value from US pension fund portfolios and exposures should be indexed, according to new research by CEM Benchmarking. This could result in huge cost savings and have implications for how pension funds spend their active budget.
Norway’s fund for local government employees and healthcare workers, KLP, abides by strict internal ESG principles. Sarah Rundell looks at how this translates to investments in emerging markets, its view of indexes and a concentration of manager relationships.
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