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Fund of the Month (May'23): Thailand's Government Pension Fund (GPF)

1st May, 2023

In our April newsletter, we looked at female leadership at State Investors. Only two Asian funds are led by women today: KWAP and GPF. We had the great pleasure of speaking with Dr. Srikanya Yathip, the Secretary General of Thailand’s GPF, which has been evolving and growing very rapidly and could become a significant investor at global scale in the next few years.

Dutch Lessons: Inflation and Market Turmoil are Major Challenges for PPFs

22nd July, 2022

The performance of Dutch public pension funds has proven robust despite the impact of the Ukraine crisis on the European economy, but a sharp decline in yields across asset classes will challenge their ability to defend funding ratios while raising pensions in line with inflation.

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South Africa can’t shake its corruption problem

3rd June, 2022

The Public Investment Corporation (PIC), Africa's biggest pension manager with US$ 157 billion in AuM, has been buried in allegations of corruption since Jacob Zuma’s presidency. When Cyril Ramaphosa took office in 2018, he made his mission to root out such issues, including Zuma, the Guptas, and PIC. Four years later, it does not seem that things have improved much in the country or at the fund manager.

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Fund of the Month (Mar'22): California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS)

1st March, 2022

CalSTRS is the world’s largest educator-only pension fund, and the world’s second largest state PPF, only behind its stablemate CalPERS. For the fiscal year 2020-21 the educator-only fund scored an impressive 27.2% return, which will improve its funding ratio by 300 bp. In the past few years, it has built a successful collaborative model and become a frequent partner of other SOIs. We had the immense pleasure of talking with Scott Chan, its Deputy CIO, about the challenges and opportunities ahead.

CalPERS Looks up to Canada with a New Canadian CIO and a Taking CPP’s Advice

22nd February, 2022

The world’s biggest sub-national public pension fund, the US$496 billion California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), has finally appointed a new Chief Investment Officer, 18 months after Yu Ben Meng resigned amid allegations of conflicts of interest and costly investment misses.

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Infographic: US Public Pension Funds still in Bad Shape

2nd February, 2022

US-based public pension funds have benefitted from the boom in equity markets and have been reporting extraordinary results for the 2021 fiscal year. But what has this meant for other funds and states, and what is the current situation across the US – which remains the world’s largest country in terms of sovereign capital?

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CalPERS bets on Private Equity and Debt as it grows past $500b

18th November, 2021

On Monday this week, the Board of Administration of CalPERS – the world’s largest state-level pension fund – confirmed the new investment strategy for the next four and a half years. And the new target asset allocation represents a substantial change from the current mix.

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