Editorial
The big reshuffle shaking up pensions
Every June, Amundi welcomes clients from around the world to its investment forum in Paris to discuss the new trends shaping investment. That the world has been approaching a critical juncture has been a stable topic of the past few years. But this year, the consensus was clear: We have embarked on a new era.
However, what is equally clear, is that the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the return of inflation, the end of the globalization dream have left us on unsettled and often unfamiliar ground.
The aim of the Amundi World Investment Forum, and indeed much of the material we publish for our clients, is to provide clear, insightful and thought-provoking material that looks more closely at the factors at play and helps you decipher some of the many conflicting signals. While we may not be able to predict what will come next, we can do our best to be prepared for every eventuality.
The pensions industry too has reached a pivotal moment. Demographic trends, low yields and now the return of inflation have led to the re-evaluation, not just of portfolios, and but of pension structures as a whole, as the shift from DB to DC accelerates. The pension system in the Netherlands has long been held up as a gold standard of pension systems, so the pension reforms announced in May will be a crucial test for others to observe.
The last time the US and Europe saw such high inflation levels was the 1970s. The similarities between the two eras has been written about before in these pages. But how far do these similarities go and what should we expect next? Our third article shares some of our latest convictions on the regime shift.
We end this letter with regular of all latest developments in the pension funding ratios in Europe and the US.
Finally, if you weren’t able to join us for this year’s Amundi World Investment Forum, watch out for the link to the replays, where you can catch-up on what you missed.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- How can pension funds access the best alpha opportunities in Emerging Markets?
- A new model for pensions? Dutch pension reform accelerates transition to defined contribution.
- 2020s vs 1970s: Plenty of echoes, but no replay.
- Pension funding ratios: so far, so good.
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