Rolf Banz on investment
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Pension funds

The best of the best?

By Rolf on 8 October 2014

A few years ago, the Alaska Permanent Fund (APF) – Alaska’s sovereign wealth fund with assets of USD 50+ bn (website) – introduced an interesting element into their portfolio. After an exhaustive search, they appointed five asset management firms as external CIOs. They gave each about USD 500 million in a largely unconstrained mandate (the […]

Posted in Comments/ramblings | Tagged Manager selection, Pension funds, Performance | 1 Response

The Economist and CalPERS

By Rolf on 23 September 2014

After a series of posts that were rather critical of the media, it seems only fair to praise an article that makes its points succinctly. This week’s Buttonwood column in the Economist discusses hedge funds and pension deficits in the context of the decision of CalPERS to abandon hedge fund investment. It makes for rather […]

Posted in Comments/ramblings | Tagged Hedge funds, Pension funds

M&M and pension fund liabilities

By Rolf on 23 July 2013

As if Detroit did not have enough problems, a gap of several billion dollars has appeared in its pension fund (see the New York Times here). Actually, US public funds have long been notorious for using unrealistic return assumptions in their actuarial calculations where it is not unusual to see expected long term returns of […]

Posted in Comments/ramblings | Tagged Pension funds, Pension liabilities

Ethical…?

By Rolf on 13 September 2012

The two big public pension plans in Geneva are in dire straits. The local legislature is considering a bill this week that would merge them and would also provide a capital injection of almost a billion Swiss francs. The funds have pursued what is euphemistically called a mixed financing strategy. Their assets cover less than […]

Posted in Comments/ramblings | Tagged Pension funds, Philosophy, Switzerland

About this weblog and its author

Rolf Banz spent his career in the investment industry in the US, the UK and, most recently, in Switzerland. To older people, he is known as the "father of the small firm effect". This weblog consists of a series of essays and shorter pieces on a range of issues at the intersection of institutional investment and investment theory. Please see this post for a description of the objectives of the weblog and the About page for further information on the author and the site.

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