(August 1, 2012) - Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has called lawmakers back to Springfield for a one-day special session and wants to pass legislation to overhaul the part of the state's woefully underfunded pension system. The session may culminate with a vote on pending reform legislation. The bill in question, which is now before the House of Representatives, would overhaul the benefit structure and funding mechanism for state workers' pensions, but not teachers or university employees. Under...

(August 1, 2012) - New Mexico's State Investment Council (SIC), a $15.2 billion fund recently rocked by alleged pay-to-play schemes, has a new board, new asset managers and, now, a new return target and asset allocation strategy. "Sometimes you have to tear down before you can rebuild," Communications Director Charles Wollmann told aiCIO. "We're taking some risk out of the equation. Historically, the fund has risen and fallen with the US equity market, and we're looking to reduce our exposure...

(August 6, 2012) - The more bonds, the better for institutional plans' one- and three-year returns, according to new data released by Wilshire Associates. Short and medium-term returns for foundations and endowments, public pensions, and corporate pensions directly tracked plan types' allocation to U.S. fixed-income. Corporate funds posted the best average performance, at 3.68% (one year) and 12.53% (three years), with 34.82% of assets sunk into domestic bonds. Public funds returned 1.15%...

(August 6, 2012) - Alternative assets are the only way for plan sponsors to reach their 7% or 8% return targets, according to Blackstone President and CEO Tony James. In a Monday post on the private equity firm's website, James argued that if the "nation is going to be able to provide for its future, pension funds and other institutional investors must earn more than they can get in public markets. "And," he continued, "they must do so on a scale large enough to move the return materially on...

(August 16, 2012) -- The Massachusetts' public pension system is adamant about directly investing with hedge funds-and its initial foray into the strategy has been an unqualified success. "All indications so far say it was the right thing to do," Board Chairman and State Treasurer Steven Grossman told aiCIO. "It's going well-we're steadily moving funds. Certain assets we can get at right away, others we have to wait." The Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board (MassPRIM)...