PSPF appoints BlackRock and UBS for ESG mandate | Asia Asset Management asiaasset.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from asiaasset.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Taiwan’s Public Service Pension Fund (PSPF) posted an investment gain of NT$34.47 billion (US$1.24 billion) in the first quarter, translating into a year-on-year return of 5.35%.
It was a turnaround from the NT$61.3 billion investment loss in the first three months of 2020 amid the global market sell-off at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, when it suffered a 10.42% year-on-year loss.
The fund’s performance has been improving since the second half of last year as markets rallied in the wake of monetary easing by global central banks, but it warned that concerns about inflation have sparked greater volatility.
The first-quarter investment gain drove the fund’s total assets up to NT$678.29 billion as of March 2021 from NT$640.2 billion at the end of last year.
The investment will focus on equities, exchange-traded funds and derivatives.
The pension fund will appoint two managers for five years each for the mandate, which is benchmarked against the MSCI ACWI Quality ESG Target Index, according to the request for proposal on April 19.
The tender is open to Korean fund managers as well as local units of foreign managers.
The PSPF, a mandatory defined-benefit scheme for civil servants, teachers and military personnel, with NT$651.9 billion ($23.46 billion) of assets as of February 2021, has been moving to expand its ESG exposure in recent years through a multi-pronged strategy, according to a spokesperson for the fund.