Bonds buoy funds globally

New Zealand pension funds were the best performing in the OECD last year, with an average of 10.3 per cent, followed by Chile, Finland, Canada and Poland, with 2.7 per cent the average across all countries. According to the Pension Markets In Focus report by the financial affairs division of the OECD, most countries are back above the asset levels of 2007, with the exception of Belgium, Ireland, Japan, Portugal, Spain and the US. Bonds remain the dominant asset class with most countries allocating 50 per cent to this asset class. The US, Australia, Finland and Chile, however, have significant allocations to equities. Within OECD countries, the report finds that the US has the largest pension fund market in absolute terms with assets worth $10.6 trillion. In relative terms the US’s share of OECD pension assets shrank from 67 to 55 per cent. The next biggest markets are the UK (10 per cent), Japan (7 per cent), the Netherlands (6 per cent), Australia (6 per cent) and Canada (5 per cent).

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The cost of bad asset allocation

A study of 300 US pension funds by CEM Benchmarking reinforces the importance of asset allocation, highlighting the performance of asset classes, as well as new evidence on correlations between asset classes. Alex Beath, author of the study, discusses the implications for asset allocation with Amanda White. A CEM Benchmarking study “Asset Allocation and Fund

The OECD’s plan for long-term investment

G20 financial ministers and central bank governors welcomed the findings of the G20/OECD roundtable on institutional investors and long-term investment last month, which included clear plans to incentivise institutional investors to undertake more long-term investments. The roundtable, “From solutions to actions: implementing measures to encourage institutional long-term investment financing”, held in Singapore recognised that long-term

Why long-horizon investors should adopt factor-based asset allocation

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The case for long-termism

Keith Ambachtsheer’s lead article in the Fall 2014 edition of the Rotman International Journal of Pension Management, takes readers through an historical and logical journey that supports the case for long-termism. Importantly he validates this with four high-profile investor case studies which demonstrate that a long-term view benefits society but also the investors, willing to

Investors alter allocations because of climate risks

A number of large institutional investors, including AP1, the Environment Agency and AustralianSuper, made changes to their strategic asset allocation as a result of Mercer’s 2011 study on climate risks, and now the consultant is working with a new raft of investors to assess forward-looking climate change scenarios against their current allocations. Meanwhile one of

Real estate sector continues to lead on sustainability: GRESB

This year’s Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) reveals that sustainability reporting has improved in coverage and quality of data, with the average overall score increasing due to increasing implementation and measurement. The average score is now 47 (out of 100) which is up nine points this year. The benchmark collects data from 637 listed

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