Many portfolio managers use multi-factor models, but these are only as good as the various inputs used to construct them. MSCI looks at how flawed-model construction can result in optimised portfolios that are not efficient. The paper, Is Your Risk Model Letting Your Optimized Portfolio Down?, reveals that faulty risk models tend to underestimate risk … Read more
Two of the world’s biggest institutional investors have recently made significant forays into Australian infrastructure, seeing opportunities in the country across a wide array of assets. Canada’s second largest pool of pension assets, la Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (the Caisse), has made a $139.2-million investment in five projects. Macky Tall, the fund’s … Read more
Governor of California, Edmund G Brown Jr, has announced proposed legislation that outlines sweeping reforms to the state’s pension system, but appears to have stepped back from a proposal to create a hybrid pension plan. The hybrid defined-contribution/defined-benefit plan was proposed last year when Brown launched a 12-point reform package. It was widely opposed by … Read more
The funded status of US defined-benefit corporate-pension plans continued to worsen last year, despite plan sponsors increasing contributions by $70 billion, a new Mercer study reveals. Mercer found funding levels have slipped to 2009 levels, with the outlook for 2012 likely to extend the bleak news for plan sponsors. The funded status of pension plans … Read more
Australian superannuation funds are now required to disclose a measurement of risk to fund members, with trustees encouraged to use a standardised measurement backed by regulators and industry peak bodies. The Standard Risk Measure will provide a rating of a fund’s investment option based on the likely number of negative returns this option is predicted … Read more
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