All about risk
Link: https://www.pionline.com/pension-funds/california-pension-funds-learning-experience
Excerpt:
Marcie Frost said CalPERS got an early warning about the coronavirus from its outgoing CIO.
CalPERS and CalSTRS have been working to keep their plans upright and positioned to attain their expected rate of returns in unprecedented economic, social and political conditions.
Author(s): Arleen Jacobius
Publication Date: 25 January 2021
Publication Site: Pensions & Investments
Link: https://www.pionline.com/esg/resisting-diversity-could-lead-termination
Excerpt:
Shannon M. O’Leary cited lack of diversity as a big part of the reason her foundation cut ties with three managers in the past year or so.
Foundations argue that scrutiny of investment consultants and money managers lagging on the diversity front will only move the needle so far. For firms failing to meet diversity goals set by foundations, the best recourse is to fire them and reallocate capital elsewhere, sources say.
Author(s): Danielle Walker
Publication Date: 25 January 2021
Publication Site: Pensions & Investments
Link: https://www.pionline.com/retirement-plans/tontines-garnering-new-wave-interest
Excerpt:
Strategies could help answer growing concerns about how to solve rising longevity risks
Dean McClelland said the OECD’s mention of tontines is a sign of growing acceptance.
Live longer could become the new retirement advice in coming years amid growing interest in tontines — investment pools where participants share longevity risks by distributing the assets of those who die as “mortality credits” to surviving participants.
Author(s): DOUGLAS APPELL
Publication Date: 25 January 2021
Publication Site: Pensions & Investments
Link: https://www.pionline.com/courts/dol-backs-out-calsavers-challenge
Excerpt:
The Department of Labor is no longer backing a twice-dismissed challenge to the CalSavers program, according to its Feb. 5 filing with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in Sacramento.
Author(s): Hazel Bradford
Publication Date: 8 February 2021
Publication Site: Pensions & Investments
Link: https://www.pionline.com/legislation/house-panel-weigh-multiemployer-pension-reform-bill
Excerpt:
Legislation to help struggling multiemployer pension funds is to be considered this week by a key House panel as part of a COVID-19 relief measure.
The House Ways and Means Committee is expected to start marking up a package of pandemic relief measures Wednesday, including one aimed at stabilizing pensions for more than 1 million participants in multiemployer plans approaching insolvency.
The pension section of the proposed Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021 is cited as the “Butch Lewis 4 Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021.”
It is based on a previously proposed multiemployer pension relief bill named for retiree Butch Lewis that called for a federal loan program for struggling plans and more resources for the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. to help troubled plans through partitions.
Author(s): Hazel Bradford
Publication Date: 9 February 2021
Publication Site: Pensions & Investments
Link: https://www.pionline.com/pension-funds/lawmakers-vote-revamp-kentucky-teachers-pension-plan
Excerpt:
The Kentucky House of Representatives voted to approve a bill that would move participants in the Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System, Frankfort, to a hybrid plan.
The House voted 68-28 in favor of the bill, which creates a tier for teachers hired after Jan. 1, 2022.
Rep. C. Ed Massey sponsored the bill because the $21.6 billion pension fund “has a huge unfunded legacy,” he said in a telephone interview.
Author(s): ROB KOZLOWSKI
Publication Date: 8 February 2021
Publication Site: Pensions & Investments
Link: https://www.pionline.com/governance/public-funds-press-blackrock-political-spending
Excerpt:
Nearly two dozen fiduciaries of public retirement plans and others expressed concern over BlackRock’s internal practices and stewardship stances on companies’ political spending and lobbying activity.
Author: Hazel Bradford
Publication Date: 26 January 2021
Publication Site: Pensions & Investments
Link: https://www.pionline.com/pension-funds/calpers-expecting-announce-new-cio-quarter
Excerpt:
Even as CalPERS officials were facing the dual challenges of managing investments and remote work during a pandemic, it was moving ahead with hiring a new CIO and expects to name one in the first quarter, a top official said.
Author: Arleen Jacobius
Publication Date: 25 January 2021
Publication Site: Pensions & Investments
Link: https://www.pionline.com/esg/nyc-pension-funds-divest-fossil-fuels
Excerpt:
Two of the five pension funds in the New York City Retirement Systems will divest an estimated $4 billion in securities related to fossil fuel companies, city officials said Monday.
Author: Hazel Bradford
Publication Date: 25 January 2021
Publication Site: Pensions & Investments
Link: https://www.pionline.com/regulation/biden-team-review-labor-department-esg-rule
Excerpt:
The Biden administration will review a recent Department of Labor rule stipulating that ERISA plan fiduciaries cannot invest in “non-pecuniary” vehicles that sacrifice investment returns or take on additional risk.
Author: Brian Croce
Publication Date: 21 January 2021
Publication Site: Pensions & Investments
Link: https://www.pionline.com/washington/investors-ready-change-democrats-take-control
Excerpt:
While the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact present the most pressing challenges, Democratic control of Congress and the White House could also spur action on issues ranging from climate change to scrutiny of private equity practices.
…..
Mr. Neal’s first bill introduced in the new 117th Congress addresses the multiemployer pension crisis that he said “has only worsened” in the COVID-19 economic downturn. A similar proposal was introduced by members of the House Education and Labor Committee, whose chairman, Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, D-Va., said the pandemic could cause as many as 180 more multiemployer plans to become insolvent, adding up to 300 plans facing failure. Both leaders are urging that the proposed Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021 be attached to a COVID-19 relief measure now before Congress.
…..
Potential legislation is expected to build on the panel’s climate action plan calling for clean energy tax credits and jobs initiatives, investments in water infrastructure and research into land and ocean climate solutions, among other ideas.
Author: Hazel Bradford
Publication Date: 25 January 2021
Publication Site: Pensions & Investments
Link: https://www.pionline.com/pension-funds/new-mexico-pera-executive-director-taking-new-position
Excerpt:
Wayne Propst, executive director of the $16.5 billion New Mexico Public Employees Retirement Association, Santa Fe, will be leaving on Feb. 12 to join the staff of New Mexico state Sen. George K. Munoz, Mr. Propst said in an email.
Author: Arleen Jacobius
Publication Date: 22 January 2021
Publication Site: Pensions & Investment