News

British final salary schemes with surpluses increased their funding status in August, according to new figures; the same, however, cannot be said for underfunded plans.

In further evidence of the resurgence in resources and the willingness of SWF to partner with western investors, British bank Barclays is in talks with the South Korean Natural Resources Fund about joint investments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

With the Colorado Fire & Police Pension Association dropping the strategy due to poor performance, the decline of portable alpha is no longer anecdotal—it’s a trend.

Ambachtsheer, the Director of the University of Toronto’s Rotman International Centre for Pension Management, has been talking about pension governance for years. It will come as no surprise, then, that ai5000 sought out the man who, if anyone can be, is the conscience of the pension world.

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund has cleaned out at the executive level, but others—despite similar losses in 2008—are staying the course on investment management teams.

While some continue to refute that human action is causing global climate change, institutions—sensing a trend—gradually are allocating funds to green investing.

Often focusing more on infrastructure—dams, roads, railways—the Canadian Pension Plan (CPP) has joined forces with venture capitalists to buy Internet communications company Skype, possibly signaling a move toward riskier assets for Canada’s large defined benefit plans.

Private equity, the traditional bastion of institutional investors, is struggling with poor returns and regulatory troubles as REITs continue to grow.

Although small fish itself, the regulator’s initiative to move existing final-salary scheme members into a defined contribution plan signals the end of an era – and may in fact encourage others to do the same.

Often viewed with a suspicious eye, SWFs – the current kings of M&A – are increasingly joining forces with local investors when making moves.

A new survey shows that pension funds and asset managers view the latter’s services in a different light, with only 5% of pension funds willing to say that their asset manager was ‘excellent’.

Studies show that large institutions are moving away from equities, burned by a decade of sub-par returns, but will such a move have caused them to miss one of the greatest bull runs in decades?

Institutions, despite being offered greater voting power in recent London proposals, are balking at a two-tiered shareholder system.

While seemingly inevitable, the focus on investment manager compensation has now spread to pension funds, a move that will concern many as talent retention worries continue.

PPIP, the government program to take ‘toxic assets’ off the books of banks, has received a lukewarm response in America; the Chinese Investment Corporation, however, is reportedly putting up $2 billion to invest in this mortgage-backed securities program.