We have been skeptical and critical of the shift from defined benefit to defined contribution pension plans. The entire idea of pension plans was to protect the retirement income security of working people by having their savings managed by expert professionals subject to the highest requirements of diligence and loyalty. What has been characterized as…
Category: pension fund governance
Why Isn’t Your Mutual Fund Sticking Up for You?
Delaware Supreme Court Chief Justice Leo E. Strine Jr. and Harvard Kennedy School professor Antonio Weiss want mutual funds to consider the same long-term issues raised in the BRT stakeholder statement: Growing inequality and stagnant wages are forcing a much-needed debate about our corporate governance system. Are corporations producing returns only for stockholders? Or are they…
Rescuing Retirement: A Bold New Proposal
VEA Vice Chair Nell Minow attended a meeting on Capital Hill to discuss a new proposal for a portable retirement account available to all workers. Some of the highlights: By 2050, if we make no changes, 1/3 of the elderly will be living in poverty. This is “an issue for everyone,” said Randi Weingarten, President…
DWP welcomes CMA findings; legislation expected in 2020 – Pensions Age Magazine
UK’s Pension Fund Institute reports on proposed reforms for selecting and evaluating fund managers: The proposed remedies, first published in December, will require pension schemes to run a competitive tender before choosing a fiduciary manager for more than 20 per cent of its assets, in order to drive up standards and decrease costs across the…
US Pension Governance: Upgrading for the 21st century | Magazine | IPE
Christopher O’Dea writes in Investments & Pension Europe: The dominant theme in the governance of US public pension funds these days is ‘investors, govern thine selves’. Many pension funds have invested in activist hedge funds or established their own corporate governance functions. These are designed to press corporate leaders and their boards to develop better…