Rotman ICPM research

The Rotman International Centre for Pension Management (ICPM) has approved five research projects for funding this year, including a behavioural-finance project by Swedish academics, to investigate plan members’ views of the “extended” fiduciary duty of pension funds.

This project, to be conducted by Joakim Sandberg, Anders Biel and Magnus Jansson from the University of Gothenburg and Tommy Garling from Stockholm University, will develop and test a socio-pyschological model to explain differences in beneficiaries’ attitudes toward an extended fiduciary duty, including social and environmental issues.

Titled Attitudes toward extended fiduciary duty among beneficiaries of pension funds, it aims to help fund trustees gain a better understanding of their beneficiaries’ expectations with respect to fiduciary duty and environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment.

Chair of ICPM’s research committee and head of innovation at APG, Stefan Lundbergh, says this article is interesting because it looks a the issue from the beneficiaries’ perspective.

“As an industry we assume ESG is important, but we haven’t asked the member,” he says.

“This paper on fiduciary responsibility is interesting because it is a different type of research [that] we haven’t done before. Typically, we’ve done quant papers but this looks at behaviour and what drives people. Fiduciary duty has to be solved first. If you don’t solve this, then you can’t solve anything else.”

Lundbergh says the mission of ICPM is to drive knowledge and understanding as well as build an academic presence.

Since its inception in 1995, the organisation has funded more than 20 research projects across pension and governance design, investment beliefs and risk management.

Selected researchers are funded over a two-year period and usually invited to present their findings at ICPM discussion forums, and to write for the @@italics Rotman International Journal of Pension Management @@.

ICPM, which is chaired by chief investment strategist at CPPIB, Don Raymond, and has Keith Ambachtsheer as its president, held its annual June forum in Toronto this week.

The ICPM is supported by about 40 global research partners, which each make a financial commitment to support research, the organisation and execution of the twice-yearly discussion forums, the next of which is in London in October.

Other papers that were given funding for 2012–2013 include  Pension fund asset allocation and liability discount rates: camouflage and reckless risk-taking by US public plans? by Aleksandar Andonov and Rob Bauer (who is also associate director of programs at ICPM) from Maastricht University, and Martijn Cremers from Yale School of Management.

Other papers published by ICPM can be viewed here.

please put a link to the past papers of ICPM