A defining characteristic of leading pension funds globally is the cost savings garnered from in-house investment management. An organisational design study by CEM Benchmarking has revealed that “leading” funds have an average of 49 per cent of assets managed in-house, and yet the internal staff and non-manager third-party costs make up only 15 per cent
US public pension funds, under fire for the sustainability of their defined-benefit plans, are increasingly opening a new social-media front line in the battle to influence public opinion. The Maryland State Retirement and Pension System is the latest to step up its social media presence, posting its first You Tube video, which outlines the positive
The flight to quality was not limited to certain developed-country debt during the volatility in the second half of 2011. Indeed, Pimco’s global co-head of emerging-markets portfolio management Ramin Toloui says that some emerging-market government bonds are potential safe havens during times of market stress. He says that the bond giant’s Global Advantage Government Bond
The recent sharp growth in US corporate defined-benefit-plan liabilities, coupled with concerns that interest rates will start to rise from current historical lows, is slowing the push to de-risk plans, Wilshire Consulting’s head of investment research, Steven Foresti says. The latest Wilshire Consulting research into defined-benefit (DB) plans at S&P 500 companies reveals that aggregate
Moving from reactive engagement to proactively working with companies and regulators to avoid major environmental, social or corporate governance (ESG) events has become a key focus of the Swedish Ethical Council, its new head says. Newly appointed chairwoman Ulrika Danielson says that the council, which is a collaborative engagement effort for the AP 1 to
The 800-pound gorilla of the real estate market, sovereign wealth funds, is increasingly exercising its muscle by investing directly in property as a way of cutting fees and potentially achieving better returns, new research finds. The latest snapshot of sovereign wealth funds’ interest in property by alternative-asset researcher Preqin shows that 85 per cent of
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