The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is one of the top 20 asset owners in the world, at US$283.45 billion, making it one of the most influential capital allocators in existence, according to a new report by Willis Towers Watson’s Thinking Ahead Institute.
Looking at the world’s 100 largest capital management organizations, which are collectively responsible for US$55 trillion, the report notes these investors have the power to determine the current and future shape of capital markets.Pensions play a massive role in this arena, since 61 per cent of the capital managed by these top 100 players is controlled by pension funds. Japan’s government pension investment fund controls the most money of any of organization, with more than US$1.4 trillion, followed by Norway’s government pension fund with more than US$1 trillion. Indeed, 10 of the top 20 are pension funds, with the CPPIB sitting at No. 16. Sovereign wealth funds also play a major role, controlling 32 per cent of the capital in the top 100, with outsourced chief investment officers and master trusts making up the remaining seven per cent.
“There is […] a more overarching need for these large asset owners to understand the world in which they operate and over which they potentially hold such influence,” said Roger Urwin, global head of investment content at the Thinking Ahead Institute, in a press release. “Over the next decade, this means doing more to institutionalize professionalism, streamline operating models, leverage culture and diversity more effectively and evolve the investment model into increasingly smart and sustainable arrangements.”