Turnover at CALPERS as Ben Meng Steps Down

America's largest pension fund ($409bn), CalPERS (the California Public Employees Retirement System) has lost its investment chief Ben Meng, after around one and a half years in the job.  Its Deputy CIO, Dan Bienvenue, has stepped in as interim head. Ben was formerly Deputy CIO of SAFE (China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange). CalPERS delivered a 4.7% return for the year ended 30 June (exceeding the median return for public pension funds of 3.2% in the same period).

Japan's GPIF, world's largest pension fund, falls 3.8 per cent in the year

Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), worth $1.3 trillion, lost 5.3 trillion yen ($51bn) in the year ended March 31st, its worse annual result since the financial crisis.

The loss included a 10.8% loss on domestic equities and 9.6% on global equities. Japanese bonds, which the fund was cutting since October 2014, when it moved allocations more to equities, posted a 4.1% gain, following the Bank of Japan's move to negative interest rates.

The fund has 80% of its holdings in passive investments.

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), a retirement savings plan financed by employers and employees in Canada except Quebec, was created in 1966 and is sized at $278 billion as of March 31, 2016, fared better with a 3.4% return with gains in real estate and emerging-market equity private investments.