While schemes are still reluctant to use derivatives, pension funds are increasingly using these investment vehicles to hedge against interest-rate risk, consultants say.
The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), the largest public pension in the US, is the latest News Corp shareholder to withhold support for Rupert Murdoch and his sons.
The top financial regulatory board in the United States has laid out standards by which insurance companies, hedge funds, and other non-bank financial firms could fall under stricter regulation, yet industry sources voice apprehension that firms may be overburdened by regulation and reporting.
Following a $176.7 billion loss in 2008, the US Census Bureau has shown that state and local public employee retirement systems had $2.5 trillion in total cash and investment holdings in 2009, a $726.1 billion or 22.7% decrease from $3.2 trillion in the previous year.
New legislation signed by California Governor Jerry Brown -- which becomes law on January 1, 2012 -- has paved the way for CalPERS to strengthen its Chief Financial Officer position responsible for managing the financial processes for the pension fund, encouraging that transparency and internal controls are maintained.
Hoping to recover its value following the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Standard Life is suing 11 of its insurers who refused to pay a claim related to a cash injection into one of its pension funds.
As part of an inquiry by the US Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate the role of middlemen among pensions, the regulator has subpoenaed officials of Kentucky Retirement Systems to be interviewed.
Damon Krytzer, a pension trustee, and Sam Kunz, the chief investment officer of Chicago's Policemen's Annuity and Benefit Fund, speak with aiCIO on misperceptions behind dynamic asset allocation and risk parity strategies.
Saker Nusseibeh, the head of investments of Hermes and chairman of the new 300 Club, tells aiCIO that institutional investors should avoid following the heard and instead question and scrutinize unnecessary complexity.
The Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation is making progress in selecting a new chief investment officer to replace Jeffrey Scott, who departed from the fund in early August to join consulting firm Wurts and Associates.