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FIS Oxford 2025
The role of insurers helping create sustainable pension systems
Ensuring a sustainable income in retirement is an enduringly knotty problem and one that continues to preoccupy countries' pension systems and their asset manager partners. NEST, Sweden's Fund Selection Agency and US asset manager Apollo reflect on the future of retirement.
FIS Oxford 2025
HarbourVest: Europe’s illiquid markets make private markets difficult
John Toomey, chief executive officer of Boston-based HarbourVest Partners shares his observations of investment opportunities in Europe where the availability of capital, skill and risk appetite still pales compared to the US.
FIS Oxford 2025
The case for Bitcoin as a store-of-value asset in pension portfolios
Many asset owners are hesitant to invest fiduciary capital into cryptocurrencies due to their perceived volatility and uncertain fundamentals, but Australian pension fund AMP Super, which has bought into Bitcoin via its DAA program, argued that they could be an emerging store-of-value asset comparable to gold.
FIS Oxford 2025
LP demands for bespoke solutions define new era for private managers
Private asset managers can expect to work harder for LP capital as allocators increasingly look for more bespoke, flexible structures that meet their changing needs around liquidity, fee and types of exposures. Investors at FIS Oxford unpack how they approach manager relationships in the new era of private investments.
FIS Oxford 2025
Chasing market swings a ‘loser’s game’ for active managers: Loomis Sayles
Aziz Hamzaogullari, chief investment officer of growth equity strategies at Loomis Sayles, has urged active investors to focus on long-term consumer and enterprise demands, warning that chasing short-term market moods and toggling between “risk-on” and “risk-off” positions is ultimately a “loser’s game”.
FIS Oxford 2025
Apollo: Integration crucial for Europe’s investment future
Tristram Leach, the London-based head of investments at Apollo, said a lack of integration among the fragmented European regulatory and market structures is making it harder for investors to deploy in the region. He warned that, without deeper coordination, Europe risks missing out on the global capital rotation.
FIS Oxford 2025
Expect a 5-to-10-year wait for 401(k) plans to enter private markets
The risk of litigation and liquidity concerns mean America's 401(k) funds won't venture into private markets for five to 10 years, said T. Rowe Price's Michael Davis, speaking at FIS Oxford. But he said legislation has played a powerful role in shaping the US retirement industry.
Investor Profile
APG private markets CIO articulates the value of being based in Asia
Dutch investor APG is showing its deep commitment to Asia by installing its chief investment officer of private markets in the Hong Kong office, a prime location from which to proactively source opportunities. The fund outlines its plan to increase allocation in infrastructure and private equity while integrating impact themes.
Investor Profile
CPP Investments, NBIM reflect on lessons from a 5-year transparency journey
The Global Pension Transparency Benchmark has been a driving force in improved transparency of disclosures and reporting among global asset owners. As the project comes to its close after five years, two leading funds reflect on why transparency has been a clear focus for their organisations.
Opinion
Resilience: Abdicating from transformational change?
Will the relentless pursuit of efficiency undermine our ability to build a resilient and sustainable future? Andrea Caloisi, a researcher at the Thinking Ahead Institute at WTW, explores how complex systems, driven by short-term optimisation, may be fuelling long-term fragility.
Opinion
Wisdom: The jewel in the dirt-pile of intelligence
In his regular column for Top1000funds.com, Tim Hodgson, co-founder of the Thinking Ahead Institute at WTW, reflects on the dangers of unconstrained action, the limits of efficiency, and why long-term sustainability may depend on knowing when not to act.
Opinion
Are we waiting for a superhero to save our world?
Can climate inaction be reversed, or will we keep waiting for someone else to act? Jessica Gao, researcher at the Thinking Ahead Institute at WTW, explores how individuals, investors, and companies can step up to lead the transition - before it's too late.
Opinion
The efficiency trap
Will the relentless pursuit of efficiency undermine our ability to build a resilient and sustainable future? Andrea Caloisi, a researcher at the Thinking Ahead Institute at WTW, explores how complex systems, driven by short-term optimisation, may be fuelling long-term fragility.
Infrastructure
APG’s answer to aligning government and investment goals in infrastructure
An increasing push to invest in home markets means asset owners need better frameworks for aligning government expectations with investment goals. APG’s three-pronged approach for public infrastructure investments could act as a guide for other investors looking to balance fiduciary duty with political demands.
Fixed Income
CalPERS touts fixed income wins, gears up for TPA
At the annual review of its fixed income portfolio, CalPERS staff explain how active management, value-add strategies and the hunt for alpha are paying off, with ESG integration giving it a valuable edge and informing it to invest in companies under pressure like Boeing at the right time.
FIS Stanford 2025
Real asset opportunities ‘are coming from everywhere’: Macquarie
While the US remains the most entrepreneurial economy, China might now be challenging its technology leadership, while demographics, deglobalisation, decarbonisation, and digitalisation are creating “massive opportunities” in almost every market, according to Macquarie Asset Management.
FIS Stanford 2025
Public-private partnerships key to fixing US infrastructure
The size of the current infrastructure investment gap and the speed at which it is widening mean there is both a desire and a need for more public-private partnerships to unlock funding. Investors say that collaboration with local governments and raising public awareness of private investment benefits are crucial.
FIS Stanford 2018
FIS Stanford Photo Gallery
View photos from the 2018 Fiduciary Investors Symposium, held at Stanford University, United States.
FIS Stanford 2018
China’s enticing, challenging market
Inefficient markets and an explosion of technological innovation fuelled by Millennial consumers make China a tantalising prospect but accessing strong returns there isn’t as simple as it looks.
FIS Stanford 2018
Protecting human capital helps everyone
Investors have plenty to gain from helping to protect human rights in supply chains and managing the human costs during technological disruption and the transition to a low-carbon economy.
FIS Stanford 2018
How to follow megatrends to success
The big themes that will fuel growth in coming decades are interconnected and subject to change. An expert panel gave advice on riding societal change to outperformance.
FIS Stanford 2018
How the active complements the passive
Investors discuss the various ways that two styles often presented as if they are enemies in fact work hand in hand across portfolios to produce returns.
Asset Allocation
South Carolina lifts private equity and credit as cashflow turns positive
The South Carolina Retirement System Investment Commission's improved liquidity position has allowed the plan to tilt its portfolio towards unlisted asset classes, including private equity and private credit. The fund grew fast thanks to funding reform, improved salaries, and positive investment returns and is now looking to boost long-term performance.
FIS Stanford 2025
Investors unpack regime-based portfolio thinking
Funds are operating in an extraordinary environment, with Scott Chan, chief investment officer of CalSTRS, saying he has never witnessed so many “large shifts stacked on top of the other” in his investment career. Amid the change, investors are increasingly shifting to a scenario and regime-based asset allocation.
Investor Profile
NZ Super co-CIOs chart TPA vision; hunt for new alpha sources
As NZ Super nuts out growing pains in processes and technology, it has made some recent decisions to change its governance route including appointing two co-CIOs, Brad Dunstan and Will Goodwin, last year. In an interview, they discuss the co-delegation model, the evolution of TPA, and new alpha sources.
Equities
Future Fund flags expansion of active equity program
Emerging markets, Europe and Japan are all in focus for Australia’s sovereign wealth fund as it looks to ramp up active equities and diversify its exposures, as the fund grows wary of US markets amidst heightened political uncertainty.
News
KIC eyes pivot to total portfolio approach in latest review
The $206.5 billion Korea Investment Corporation has become the latest asset owner weighing a shift into the total portfolio approach in an attempt to boost investment returns. After putting out an RFP for a consulting partner in May, it will conduct a review into early next year about TPA's feasibility.
InFocus
TAA critical to adding value over the next six to 18 months
After several painful years, geographical diversification is finally working and will continue to work, at least in the short term, with increasing signs of a valuation advantage for non-US stocks and bonds, according to T. Rowe Price’s Sébastien Page. He says it's time to make use of tactical asset allocation.
Investor Profile
USS swings into surplus but flags re-think after Thames losses
USS says losses in Thames Water have led to deep reflection on how it will invest in regulated assets in the future, flagging the need for consistent regulation to support pension fund investment. As the fund celebrates its 50th year it records a surplus for the first time since 2008.
Strategy
UK’s transition-focused SWF gets green light
UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves didn’t waste any time approving the UK’s new SWF aimed at funding the energy transition. As it begins to lay down structure and governance frameworks critics point to the challenges of bringing projects to a level where they are investable.