News Digest: GPIF eyes more active equity; MPF closes 2023 with positive report card
TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK
Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) is open to increasing its active allocation in stocks and tapping more fund managers for that purpose, according to CIO Eiji Ueda.
Active funds made up less than 7% of the GPIF’s stock investments as of March 31, 2023.
“When you think about ways to produce excess returns, the easiest way is to increase active stock funds. Increasing active fund managers per se is not our target. But if we can find capable fund managers, we want to increase the number of active funds,” Ueda said.
Hiring more active stock fund professionals would be a departure from the GPIF’s stance over the past decade to focus more on passive management.
Source: Bloomberg
Hong Kong’s Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) recorded a positive investment return of 3.5%, or HK$37.4 billion in 2023, marking the pension scheme’s first positive result in three years.
By the end of 2023, total MPF assets stood at HK$1.14 trillion ($146 billion), which is an increase of HK$88.8 billion compared to 2022, equivalent to an average MPF account balance of HK$242,800.
Source: Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority
The National Pension Service (NPS) is expected to have logged over 12% in returns in 2023, marking its highest-ever gains.
The state pension fund may have registered its highest profit since the National Pension Service Investment Management was founded in 1999, according to news reports.
“We cannot confirm the exact figures as a regulatory filing has not been made yet. The exact numbers are to be released in late February,” an official from the NPS said.
Source: The Korea Herald
OTHER INVESTMENT NEWS
HONG KONG
The asset-management arm of Twynam Group, owned by one of the richest families in Australia, is raising capital from outside investors and looking for targets in Hong Kong for a new fund focused on companies with technology to cut carbon emissions.
“We have raised money in Australia and the US, but we are also looking at Hong Kong as it is a financial powerhouse with a lot of family offices, which are our natural investors,” Johnny Kahlbetzer, CEO of Twynam Group and chairman of Twynam Funds Management, said.
Kahlbetzer, who is the second generation of his family to run Twynam, will consider setting up a base in Hong Kong.
Source: South China Morning Post
INDIA
Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, or GIFT City, has approved billionaire Azim Premji's wealth fund to set up a family investment fund, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The approval alllows the fund to invest overseas, the sources said.
Family investment funds are managed by a single family and are typically used to invest in various assets.
Premji is the founder and former chairman of Indian technology company Wipro.
Source: Businessworld
INDONESIA
Indonesia’s financial services regulator has issued new rules for capital requirements of insurers.
The regulations, issued at the end of December, increase the minimum paid-up capital of insurance and reinsurance companies.
The increase will be implemented in two stages, with the first phase beginning by December 31, 2026.
The second stage will be carried out by December 31, 2028. At that time, the regulator will also classify insurance companies based on their equity capital.
Source: Asian Insurance Review
JAPAN
Nippon Life Insurance said it plans to set up funds that will put money into venture capital firms and startups, respectively, as early as summer.
The leading Japanese life insurer plans aligns with the government's initiative to provide funding to emerging asset management firms.
Source: Nippon Life
Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance plans to invest about ¥600 billion ($4.2 billion) in domestic and overseas private assets over the next three years, aiming to expand beyond government bonds and stocks in a bid to raise returns.
"We will actively invest in long-term assets that are compatible with life insurance, focusing on private equity and private debt," President Hideki Nagashima said.
The diversification of assets under management will be one of the pillars of Meiji Yasuda's new three-year, medium-term management plan that starts in April.
Source: Nikkei Asia
KOREA
Steelmaker POSCO Group has refuted the National Pension Service’s (NPS) claim that the steelmaker used unfair methods to reappoint incumbent chairman Choi Jeong-woo to lead the nation’s fifth-largest business group over the next three years.
“Even if the incumbent chairman seeks a third term, he has the right to make the decision,” Seoul National University’s mechanical engineering professor Park Heui-jae, who heads the POSCO Holdings CEO recommendation committee, said in a press release. “Regardless of the incumbent chairman’s decision, our committee will review all candidates without bias for the sake of POSCO’s future and shareholders.”
NPS Chairman Kim Tae-hyun had raised questions about the selection process, given that the CEO recommendation committee comprises outside directors appointed under Choi’s leadership.
Source: Korea Times
Korean Re entered into a coinsurance deal with Samsung Life concerning the life insurer’s liabilities worth W700 billion ($532 million) in October 2023.
Korean Re has been at the forefront of developing the domestic coinsurance market since 2017.
It has previously entered coinsurance contracts with Samsung Life and Shinhan Life, offering new reinsurance solutions based on non-traditional methods.
The agreement came into effect on November 1, 2023, and was reported to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) at the end of November.
Source: Reinsurance News
The above briefs are curated from press releases and third-party media sources.