News

Following in the footsteps of Harvard and others, Rice has established the Rice Management Co., which will look after the school’s $3.6 billion endowment.

Following scandal at New York’s Common Fund and CalPERS, former Chairman Arthur Levitt is calling on President Obama to launch a countrywide investigation into middlemen and public pension funds.

Although the fund was known to be down 27% on the year, the recently released annual report shows that the University lost big on interest-rate swaps and real estate in fiscal 2009—and that the University also was, unusually, investing much of its General Operating Account alongside the rest of the endowment.

A study by Charles River Associates states that European pensions could see limited investment options and weaker returns due to the draft directive on alternative asset management.

Moving his gaze from placement agents to the men and women who can exert uninhibited control over state pension systems, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo moves to curtail the power of sole trustees.

A recent survey shows that institutional investors from around the globe are happy with their hedge fund holdings, despite average losses of 19% in 2008.

Recent moves by the China Investment Corporation and the Qatar Investment Authority highlight sovereign funds’ dual role as stabilizers and profiteers.

Although the university is claiming that it doesn’t need the cash, Stanford has initiated a sale of up to $1 billion in private equity stakes in the secondary markets.

A new study is showing that UK pension plans, faced with an aging population that relies heavily on defined benefit pension schemes, are expected to increasingly insure against such longevity risk.

Having lost 20% of its value, the mighty Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has turned to a novel investment approach to retain capital while still putting it to work.

The IFC—a member of the World Bank group—is planning on working with SWFs and pension plans to create a $1 billion fund for investments in emerging and frontier markets.

All SWFs were not created equal, recent activity shows.

Brazilian pension funds will now be able to move out of their traditional government and corporate debt holdings and into other, more esoteric, investments. 

Regulation is a certainty in many different niche financial markets, and so it was only a matter of time before the SEC turned its gaze toward securities lending, which saw seemingly risk-free practices turn risky in 2008.

With higher-margin services on the decline, European custodians have started to raise basic rates, and the trend is expected to continue if proposed depository rules are enacted.