After deciding at the last investment committee meeting to employ a new way of evaluating portfolio risk which overlays risk across asset classes, rather than replacing asset classes with risk categories, CalSTRS now just has to work out how to do it. Amanda White spoke with chief investment officer Chris Ailman about the fund’s journey to conquer risk.
Boon for managers as Korean NPS to outsource billions
The National Pension Service of Korea will outsource 26 trillion Korean won – the equivalent of $23 billion – to external funds managers this year as it moves towards its 2015 strategic asset allocation which will see a dramatic increase in equities and alternatives.
CalPERS warns that Apple tempts downfall
One of the world’s most innovative and progressive companies, Apple, is the target of lobbying by CalPERS, demonstrating that dropping mandatory majority voting in director elections from the final version of the Dodd-Frank Act, hasn’t deterred shareowners from taking the matter into their own hands.
Let’s work together quickly: Stronger Super chair
The time for ideological argument was over, said the chair of the Stronger Super Committee, Paul Costello, and the industry should work constructively to implement the Australian Government’s response to the Cooper Review.
Pension roll-ins devilishly detailed
As evidence emerges that pension best-practice increasingly manifests in mega-funds, mergers to capitalise on the benefits of economies of scale abound. Amanda White looks behind the scenes of the roll-in of the $3.4 billion state-based Westscheme into the $37 billion AustralianSuper, and finds it’s not as glamorous as it sounds.
The economics of hedge funds
This collaborative research examines the relationship between hedge fund managers’ fee structures and the amount of risk taken and among other things finds a “high-powered incentive fee” encourages excessive risk-taking, while management fees have the opposite effect.
