The California Public Employees’ Retirement System is reporting a net loss of 6.1 per cent for its last fiscal year, according to its preliminary annual results. During the year ending June 30, 2022, the public sector defined benefit pension plan’s value decreased from $466.84 billion to $440 billion. According to a press release, the losses […]
The Saskatchewan Pension Plan is allocating parts of its balanced fund to Ninepoint Partners and Fengate Asset Management in a bid to further diversify its portfolio. Ninepoint has received a private debt allocation of 10 per cent of the SPP’s balanced fund and Fengate will take on a 10 per cent infrastructure allocation, according to a press […]
While institutional investors have likely relaxed leverage constraint in their private equity portfolios, they could realize better investment outcomes by taking the same approach with their public market exposures “Constraints [on leverage] prevent some of the most useful tools in portfolio management — namely, full diversification,” said Roberto Croce, head of risk parity and liquid […]
Canadian institutional investors should have a strategic allocation to emerging market debt, Ward Brown, fixed income portfolio manager at MFS Investment Management, explained during his session. EM debt has two of the key characteristics needed for a strategic allocation. First, it is a good diversifier because it has low correlations with other assets commonly found […]
At the beginning of 2020, the OPSEU Pension Trust upped its gold allocation to close to six per cent of its total fund after a comprehensive portfolio assessment. The decision paid off. In an environment of historically low interest rates and coronavirus-related market uncertainty, the commodity’s price skyrocketed to reach an all-time high of US$2,000 […]
Defined contribution plan sponsors must carefully consider diversification and risk as they evaluate their target-date fund strategy to ensure it’s meeting the needs of members. But while these terms are commonly used in the industry, they can take on different meanings when it comes to target-date funds, said Ruthann Pritchard, institutional portfolio manager of global […]
Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, 43 per cent of institutional investors and wealth managers say they have a more positive view of cryptocurrencies, while 35 per cent say it’s improved slightly. The research, which was commissioned by London-based Nickel Digital Asset Management Ltd., found 78 per cent of respondents now have a positive […]
While it’s easy to get into the weeds of inflation in the current economic environment, the fundamental question for DC plan sponsors and their members is its impact on a traditional 60/40 multi-asset class investment portfolio. “In normal times, that diversification benefit that we know and love in a multi-asset class portfolio, where stocks do […]
While target-date funds are highly prevalent in defined contribution pension plans’ investment portfolios, gaining space as the default of choice, areas of improvement exist in terms of educating plan members about the option. During Benefits Canada‘s 2021 DC Plan Summit, Jessica Sclafani (pictured), director and DC strategist in the investment solutions group at MFS Investment Management, […]
In the early days of 2020, no one could have foreseen the social and economic havoc the coronavirus pandemic would wreak on the world. Nearly two years later, as markets and economies continue to recover, Canadian pension plan sponsors are looking to their money managers to help light the way to a brighter financial future. […]