Japanese pensions de-risk, add alternatives

Japanese pension funds are reducing their weighting to equities, including domestic stocks, in favour of alternative investments, higher-returning fixed-income investments and Asia exposures. Equities have served as the driver of returns for most funds, but this is not sufficient, says Akihiko Ohwa, manager of IBM Japan’s pension fund, speaking at a recent investment conference organised by AsianInvestor in Tokyo. Ohwa told the audience that hedge funds and private equity can also ser…