Traditionally, Chinese workers have relied on two pillars of income in retirement — the basic state pension and employer-sponsored plans open to employees in certain sectors. However, in late 2022, the Chinese government poured some concrete into the mould of a third pillar, unveiling the details of a previously announced private pension scheme. Under the […]
In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, institutional investors are increasingly factoring geopolitical risks into portfolio construction, according to John Bai, senior vice-president and chief investment officer at NEI Investments, during a 2023 economic outlook seminar hosted by the Canadian Pension and Benefits Institute on Wednesday. “All of a sudden, geopolitical risks went from […]
Emerging market economies with strong domestic structural growth stories are likely to thrive in the next 10 years, said Alexis Freyeisen, investment strategist for emerging markets equities at AllianceBernstein, during a session at the Canadian Investment Review‘s 2022 Investment Innovation Conference. “There is a lot of negative press around EM and the media likes to […]
“I’m going to start my presentation by saying what any self-respecting consultants say all the time — we got it wrong,” said Andrew Bishop, senior partner and global head of policy research at Signum Global Advisors, during a session at the Canadian Investment Review‘s 2022 Defined Benefit Investment Forum. “I’m referring to China’s easing of […]
Nine Canadian public sector pension plans are passively invested in companies with evidenced involvement in the persecution of Uyghurs in China, according to a new report by U.K. think tank Hong Kong Watch. The report includes three federal and six provincial pension investment organizations — among more than 30 global institutional investors — as passive investors […]
For years prior to the Russia-Ukraine war, there were murmurs about deglobalization as geostrategic tensions grew, nationalism flared worldwide and the coronavirus pandemic stressed global supply chains, said Seth Weingram, senior vice-president and director of client advisory at Acadian Asset Management, during the Canadian Investment Review’s 2022 Risk Management Conference. Since the invasion, that discussion […]
While politics plays a role in most investment decisions, it tends to arise on a fairly localized basis, says Michael Craig, head of the asset allocation and derivatives teams at TD Asset Management Inc. In addition, its prominence as a factor usually rises and falls on a cycle, slipping easily off investors’ radar in times […]
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is one of 12 pension funds being targeted by calls to divest holdings in a KKR fund. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union has published a website calling for pension plans to divest from the KKR’s Asian Fund III. The controversy around the fund relates to its […]
For all its dangers, there’s still considerable opportunity to be found in the Chinese investment space. At the 2021 Global Investment Conference, Anh Lu, portfolio manager for the Asia ex-Japan equity strategy at T. Rowe Price, said the trick to capitalizing on the opportunities in the world’s most populous country is to consider the long-term […]
With the repatriation of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor following their three-year incarceration in China, relations between Ottawa and Beijing are to be reset. As Foreign Minister Marc Garneau put it, Canada will now coexist, compete, co-operate and challenge China. To do this, Canada should start paying closer attention to the signals its pension […]