The global top 300 pension funds is an annual study conducted by the Thinking Ahead Institute, in conjunction with Pensions and Investments. The research highlights high-level trends in the pension fund industry and provides information on how the characteristics of these top funds have changed.
Key findings
- Assets Under Management (AUM) of the top 300 pension funds total US$20.6 trillion, having reduced by 12.9% in 2022, down from 8.9% growth the previous year
- Volatility and uncertainty in the global economy have been at their highest in a generation. High inflation and higher interest rates disrupted equity and bond markets worldwide piling the pressure on pension funds to adapt their strategies.
- Operating in this “all change” environment requires strong governance which is crucial for pension funds to maintain long-term stability
- AOs have a particular reliance on the technology of their AMs. Embracing Artificial Intelligence (AI) can introduce both challenges and opportunities for AOs as they seek better access to and application of decision-useful data.
- Pension funds have continued to integrate ESG factors into their investment programs. There are resource constraints and political issues affecting their trajectory.
- The top 20 pension funds make up 41.5% of total AUM in 2022, up from 41.0% the previous year.
As we reached the 20-year anniversary of the global top 300 pension funds study, we also looked at the evolution of the data over this period.
