This quarter has seen a perfect storm of challenges to Australian society. The bushfires, the escalating coronavirus pandemic and a global shock to output and the economy have produced unprecedented turmoil in our communities. This session will hold a candid conversation about the role of financial services in holding the nation together.
Speaker: Geoff Lloyd, chief executive, MLC
Moderator: Colin Tate, chief executive officer, Conexus Financial
Length: 38 mins
Portfolios built for the old world will be severely tested as emerging forces rewrite the rules of investing. The Fiduciary Investors Symposium heard that geopolitical and macroeconomic upheaval, together with the disruption wrought by AI, should force asset owners to rethink the structure and composition of portfolios.
As concerns in private credit mount, Colorado PERA CIO and COO Amy McGarrity says the pension fund isn’t seeing any strains in its growing allocation to the asset class, arguing that long-term investors are shielded from the risks because they can lock up their capital to weather market cycles.
Canada has established its first national-level sovereign wealth fund with a seed of C$25 billion ($18.3 billion) to underwrite “nation-building” projects like ports, mines and energy infrastructure. In an unusual funding mechanism, the fund will issue a retail product that will allow individual investors to invest with the SWF and “participate in Canada’s growth”.
PKA, one of Denmark’s largest pension service providers, is exploring whether to increase its risk budget by 10 per cent to boost returns. Michael Flycht, deputy director of equities and liquid alternatives at PKA, outlines why the fund is achieving this objective via leverage rather than direct exposures, and where it's allocating towards in hedge funds and infrastructure.
South Korean investors’ pursuit of offshore investments has become a significant source of won weakness and triggered a shift in hedging rules for the $1 trillion National Pension Service. With an overseas asset exposure greater than Korea’s national foreign reserves, NPS’ move demonstrates the scale of impact FX risks can have on portfolios.
Populism has become part of the global landscape, rooted in frustrations over inequality, stagnant mobility, and a sense that mainstream policymakers have failed to adapt to shifting economic realities.
As pension funds face growing pressure to invest more at home, investors face a balancing act between supporting long-term national interests and their fiduciary duties to beneficiaries. Investors call for policy incentives, not mandates, and transparency, not constraints.
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