Articles and white papers for pension funds. The research in this category covers both defined benefit and defined contribution pensions funds worldwide. The most popular papers in this category tend to cover either the asset management of DB pension plans, or the design of DC pensions plans. For instance, on DB pensions, the most popular papers are a KPMG Survey of Liability-Driven Investing, a guide to re-orient investment strategy to the long-term, a study on allocating to infrastructure investments, and a framework to evaluate de-risking strategies. Whereas the most popular DC papers in this category cover selecting a default glide-path and DC design around the world. Most papers in this section are aimed at pensions managers and trustees, such as a paper on international pensions governance trends, and a guide to investment management agreements. For listings of more specific content - either by country or by DB/DC - please click on the appropriate section in the main menu.
This comprehensive paper by Willis Towers Watson provides invaluable insights into the financial state of the largest 300 pension funds in the world. Total assets fell by over 3% in 2015 to a sum of US$14.8 trillion. Despite this first drop in assets, cumulative asset growth since then is almost 19%.
The retirement dream for many is to retire early enough to enjoy the fruits of their labours. The reality however is that for many there isn't enough money in the bank to last the entirety of their retirement. This paper by Citi looks at the scope of the problem both on the private and the public side. The author examines the issue globally then makes some recommendations ...
This 60-page report investigates a variety of approaches that may be taken by institutional investors in order to find new long-term investment strategies. Examining the five key action areas (risk appetite statements, investment mandates, benchmarking processes, evaluations and incentives, and investment benefits), this paper's authors develop a framework for the improvement ...
Typically, institutional investors around the world pursue one of four investment goals: absolute return, liability-driven investment, total return or principal protection. Generally, they choose from four different investment approaches: static tilts, traditional active management, market-capitalization exposures and alternative investments. Given the aforementioned potential ...
In this paper, Stacy Schaus and Ying Gao argue that the best strategy for creating a retirement income stream is for retirees to keep savings in their Defined Contribution plan. Doing so may include access to institutional investments, fiduciary oversight and attractive pricing. Such a strategy is also designed to keep up with the real cost of retirement, reduce the ...
The 2017 Global Pensions Asset Study covers 22 major pension markets, which total USD 36,435 billion in pension assets and account for 62.0% of the GDP of these economies. China, Finland and Italy were added to this year’s study. A deeper analysis was performed for seven of these markets (Australia, Canada, Japan, Netherlands, Switzerland, UK and US), which comprise 91.7% of ...
This paper by PwC examines investment process best practices by global pension funds. It looks at growing asset allocation trends, regulations, governance models, and other drivers of change.
This paper by DCIIA offers plan sponsors a new perspective on enhancing or implementing automatic plan features in a DC plan. It highlights several possible benefits of this to the employer. It also provides a roadmap that plan sponsors might use to implement automatic plan features over several years.
This comprehensive 56-page report by the OECD provides interesting insights into the performance and investment behaviours of the world's biggest institutional investors, examining in depth the trends observed at a national and regional level.
An excellent and comprehensive study of compensation amongst Canadian CFA Charterholders. Showing salary, bonus and benefit levels for portfolio managers, multi-asset PMs, portfolio analysts, risk analysts, compliance/regulatory professionals, investment marketers, product development professionals, investment advisers and private client execs. Compensation levels are cut and ...
This study was commissioned by Future Fund, the Australian SWF. It aims compare best practices across leading asset owner funds with reference to benchmarks. The authors aim to reveal opportunities for idea sharing, development, and challenge between these funds. Eight specific focus areas emerge from the study: Culture, Diversity and EVP; Effective Decision Making; Long-Horizon ...
New bfinance data reveals falling fees in several sectors, especially where providers have been under pressure from cheaper competitors or the investment landscape has evolved. Meanwhile, many asset managers have seized the opportunity to launch fashionable products at a premium to their conventional equivalents, with certain breeds of unconstrained, multi-asset or advisory ...
The Australian superannuation industry is now one of the largest retirement savings pools in the world with assets of around $2.2 trillion. This 42-page paper gives a helpful historical overview of the industry. It covers different areas: the history of superannuation, the current industry structure, market concentration and scale, trends in industry structure, and more.
This 14-page paper examines the trustees of UK defined benefit pension schemes, specifically the extent to which they understand costs and fees in fund management.
This 38-report is a collaborative effort between the Australian Financial Services Council and UBS Asset Management. It provides an overview of the entire industry, including key information on specific areas (e.g. life insurance, superannuation, funds management, financial advice, etc) and the sector’s crucial role in the overall Australian economy.
This 15-page report by Goldman Sachs Asset Management presents the findings of a recent survey on the state of defined benefit pension plans in the S&P 500.
This study by Llewellyn Consulting, on behalf of Pension Insurance Corporation, provides important updates on the impact of Defined Benefit pension schemes on the share price of the FTSE 100 sponsoring company. The findings provide further evidence of the significant and ongoing downward pressure that DB pension liabilities and pension deficits have on the market values of FTSE 100 ...
Market and regulatory changes are challenging corporate pension plans to find inventive ways to manage the health of their plans and drawdown risk. This paper by QMA recommends that plan sponsors prioritize the trade-off between surplus volatility and funded status, and examine their growth assets for ways to reduce surplus volatility.
This 73-page document by Vanguard provides a detailed look at best practices for plan fiduciaries. Fiduciary duty is a philosophy of stewardship, much more than just a checklist. Plan fiduciaries are held to an exceptionally high level of duty and care under the law. This document helps clarify what it means to be a fiduciary. It also offers real-world insights on the challenges ...
This comprehensive annual report by Vanguard, now in its 15th year of publication, provides up-to-date analysis of Defined Contribution pension plans and participant behavior based on Vanguard's 2015 recordkeeping data. Adoption of professionally managed allocations by participants continues to grow. This has real potential to reconfigure that nature of retirement savings ...
