CIO’s Ninth Annual Industry Innovation Awards: Nominations Open

It’s time again to nominate and celebrate the industry’s most innovative asset owners and managers/servicers. CIO’s ninth annual Industry Innovation Awards will take place December 13 at the New York Public Library, celebrating the most innovative and talented players of institutional investing.

Please nominate asset owners and managers/servicers for this year’s awards. Nominations will close August 4, and all finalists will be announced in early September.

This year, the CIO editorial team will consult an advisory board of former and current chief investment officers, including Raphael Arndt, CIO of Australia’s Future Fund; Jagdeep Singh Bachher, CIO, vice president of Investments, University of California; Matt Clark, CIO, South Dakota Investment Council; Scott Evans, CIO of the New York City Pension Funds; David Holmgren, CIO of Hartford HealthCare; Tom Joy, CIO, Church of England; Kim Lew, CIO, Carnegie Corporation of New York; Richard Nuzum, president of Mercer’s global wealth business (2017 Consultant of the Year); and Bob Watson, CIO of FCA US. Some categories, such as investment outsourcing, transition management, and corporate investment strategies, will be judged largely on data collected via the CIO survey system.

The lifetime achievement award, which Ashbel C. “Ash” Williams, executive director and CIO of the Florida State Board of Administration (SBA), won last year, will be presented at the dinner. An overall winner from the asset owner categories will also be chosen and awarded CIO of the Year (presented last year to Evans).

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Our Next Generation Award is chosen the evening of the awards dinner, following a panel at the CIO Influential Investors’ Forum.

This year’s asset owner categories include (2017 winners in parentheses):

Foundation (Carnegie Foundation, Kim Lew)

Endowment (Church Commissioners for England, Tom Joy)

Corporate Defined Benefit Pension Plan Below $5 Billion (Computer Sciences – CSRA Inc., Brian Reed)

Corporate Defined Benefit Pension Plan Above $5 Billion (ABB,Elisabeth Bourqui)

Public Defined Benefit Plan Below $15 Billion (South Dakota Investment Council, Matt Clark)

Public Defined Benefit Plan Between $15 Billion and $100 Billion (Hawaii Employees’ Retirement System, Vijoy Chattergy)

Public Defined Benefit Plan Above $100 Billion (NYC Retirement System, Scott Evans)

Sovereign Wealth Fund (Australian Future Fund, Raphael Arndt)

Healthcare Organization (Hartford HealthCare, David Holmgren)

Defined Contribution Plan (Fiat Chrysler FCA US,Bob Watson)

ESG(University of California Regents, Jagdeep Singh Bachher)

Next Generation (W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Carlos Rangel)
Consulting (Mercer,Rich Nuzum)

*New 2018 Category: Collaboration

Asset management categories include (2017 winners in parentheses; italics indicate altered category):

Fixed Income (Nuveen Asset Management)

Equities (including alternative equity beta) (BlackRock)

Multi-Asset (including risk-balanced strategies) (Neuberger Berman)

Private Equity (Apollo Global Management)

Hedge Funds (Citadel)

Real Assets (AEW Global)

Defined Contribution Strategies (Prudential)

Investment Outsourcing (Russell Investments)

Corporate Investment Strategies (includes the overall criteria to helpcorporate CIOs achieve their goals including positioning for growth, innovation in risk management, and hedging overall portfolios.)

(Legal & General Investment Management America)

Transition Management (BlackRock)

Data & Technology (FactSet)

ESG Investing(Generation Investment Management)

*New 2018 Category: Emerging Markets

*New 2018 Category: Corporate LDI Strategies

Tags: CIO, Innovation Awards

A loss in its final fiscal quarter didn’t stop Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) from hitting its best gain in three years, bringing the world’s largest pension fund to $1.4 trillion.

Producing a 6.7% total return, domestic equities were the fund’s top performer in the year ended March 31, followed by foreign equities. Local stocks reaped 5.5 trillion yen (up 15.66%), while those overseas returned 3.5 trillion yen (10.15%). Domestic bonds brought in 362 billion yen (.80%), and overseas debt increased by 674 billion yen (3.71%).

With the exception of losses in the final quarter, the fund, which provides pensions for public employees, has seen six straight quarters of gains.

Losses from the first three months were a result of trade war fears, and a global dive in both equities and treasuries. This stopped the fund from beating its record 12% gain in 2014.

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Portfolio allocations were moved around in the latest fiscal year, with nearly every asset class getting a boost. The largest allocation, domestic bonds, now stands at 35% of the total portfolio, from 27.50% in 2017. Foreign bonds make up 15%, from 14.77%. Foreign and domestic equities are both at 25%. Foreign stocks were 23.88% last year, while domestic shares sat at 25.14% in 2017.

Short-term assets have been removed from the portfolio. In fiscal 2017, 8.7% of the portfolio was allocated to the class.

The changes to each asset class are part of the Japanese pension fund’s rebalancing during the fiscal year.

Tags: Fiscal 2017, GPIF, Japan, Pension, Returns