Scotland's Lothian Pension Fund's celebrated inhouse management affords active management at the price of passive and the ability to shape specific mandates with managers. It also positions the fund to lead on pooling - if pooling comes to Scotland's LGPS funds.
Scotland's Lothian Pension Fund's celebrated inhouse management affords active management at the price of passive and the ability to shape specific mandates with managers. It also positions the fund to lead on pooling - if pooling comes to Scotland's LGPS funds.
In a rare interview, Jayne Atkinson, chief investment officer of the £100 billion ($132 billion) UK pool LGPS Central, reveals the plan to scale up its offering after almost doubling its assets under management, including expanding alternatives to new allocations in hedge funds, diversified growth funds and insurance-linked securities.
UK pension funds LPPI, Border to Coast and LGPS Central are soaking up assets from Brunel and ACCESS as the country takes the next step towards creating mega pools in Local Government Pension Schemes, which collectively manage £392 billion ($522 billion).
Brunel Pension Partnership, renowned for its leadership in sustainable investment, and ACCESS have been told to merge with other LGPS pools in the latest step on the UK government's quest to create mega pools and boost investment in so-called productive assets.
The UK government has announced plans to speed up LGPS pooling, forcing local authority pension funds to pool their assets and delegate investment strategy to larger asset pools. The government also wants DC schemes to merge. Top1000funds.com spoke to industry executives about the proposals.
The UK government has just closed a consultation on LGPS pooling progress and processes that will shine a spotlight on £18 West Yorkshire pension fund's hybrid approach. Championing local investment and regional financial expertise may not be enough to offset pressure to step up pooling.
Top1000funds.com is the market leading news and analysis site for the world’s largest institutional investors. It focuses on leading the global investment industry to continuous improvement through case studies of best practice in governance and decision making, portfolio construction and efficient portfolio management, fees and costs, and sustainable investing.
The publication pushes the industry to question whether status quo processes and behaviours to tackle risks and opportunities will be sufficient in the future, and actively campaigns for diversity, sustainability, transparency, innovation and better alignment of fees in the investment industry.
Top1000funds.com is read by investment professionals in more than 40 countries.
Investor Profile