Report
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October, 2018
New research points to benefits of emerging market debt
Most pension funds are underweight emerging market debt and could benefit from a higher allocation, according to new research from the Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The research found that the optimal allocation to emerging market debt is 8% to 35% of a fixed income allocation in a rising rate environment. ...
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October, 2018
LGPS Central appoints Hermes EOS for voting service
The LGPS Central asset pool has hired Hermes EOS, part of Hermes Investment Management, to provide it with voting and engagement services. LGPS Central represents nine underlying local authority pension funds with assets of approximately £40 billion and over 900,000 members. LGPS Central director of responsible investment and engagement, Michael ...
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October, 2018
Transaction costs material for pension funds
Transaction costs make up an average of 24% of investment fees and costs paid by large pension funds, according to research by CEM Benchmarking. The research was conducted among some of the world’s largest and most sophisticated pension funds and sovereign wealth funds. It found that base manager fees are 49% of total costs and performance fees are 24% ...
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October, 2018
LAPF Investments Awards 2018
Over 200 people from local government pension funds, consultants and asset managers were at London’s Savoy Hotel to see BBC star newsreader Fiona Bruce present this year’s LAPF Investment Awards. One of the highlights and the most emotional moment of the evening was the Judges’ Award to the late Kieran Quinn, who passed away unexpectedly on ...
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October, 2018
Border to Coast hires three managers for UK Alpha Equity Fund
The £46 billion Border to Coast Pensions Partnership has announced the appointment of three external asset managers – Baillie Gifford, Janus Henderson and UBS Asset Management – for a UK equity fund. Border to Coast said that the UK listed equity alpha fund could total £1.2 billion at launch. The appointments followed an extensive manager selection ...
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October, 2018
Merseyside selects new sustainability index
The £9 billion Merseyside Pension Fund has decided to use a new “smart sustainability”, multi-factor climate index from FTSE Russell within its listed equity portfolio. Merseyside said it chose the index as it would help with the implementation of its climate risk strategy within its listed equity portfolio. Merseyside Pension Fund investment ...
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October, 2018
UNISON calls for clarity on pension charges
Public sector trade union UNISON has called for pension trustees to put pressure on asset managers and regulators to reveal the hidden costs of pension funds. According to a new report from the Global Unions Committee on Workers’ Capital, employees are not being given information on pension fund charges, meaning that they do not know if they are getting ...
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October, 2018
Brunel puts £350 million towards long-lease property
Brunel Pension Partnership, the £30 billion asset pool of local authority pension funds mainly based in the south-west of England, has committed £340 million to property income funds, in order to provide secured income for the pool members. Brunel said it has created a secured income portfolio which will deliver UK inflation-linked income returns, ...
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October, 2018
NEST finds majority of savers want responsible investment
New research by the national low-cost defined contribution pension provider, the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST), has found that most savers want to see their pensions invested responsibly. According to research that NEST commissioned, so that it can better engage with and understand the new generation of savers auto-enrolled into workplace ...
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October, 2018
Low beta hedge fund strategies outperform in October turmoil
Low beta hedge fund strategies such as merger arbitrate, relative value arbitrage, long-short equity market neutral and CTAs outperformed in October, when equity markets fell. The finding on hedge fund performance came from asset manager Lyxor, which runs a managed account platform for hedge fund investing. Over October, equity markets sold off ...
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