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Can the Pension Industry Innovate

Can the Pension Industry Innovate? Journal from Rotman International Centre for Pension Management Takes a Look at New Thinking in the Sector

Toronto, May 28, 2012 –Taking a look at how the tradition-bound pension industry can innovate to better service the retirement needs of its clients is the focus of the Spring 2012 issue of the Rotman International Journal of Pension Management. With contributions from pension practitioners and academics, the journal is published by the Rotman International Centre for Pension Management (Rotman ICPM) at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.

"The pension industry has not been known for its innovation. But as we continue to live and work longer, the industry has started to develop new thinking about retirement and investing to ensure a healthy financial future for both the pension organizations and their clients,” says Journal editor, Keith Ambachtsheer who is also Director of Rotman ICPM and an adjunct professor of finance at the Rotman School. “This issue has an update on four research proposals that have just received ICPM funding. The Centre and our thirty-four research partners recognize that research and innovation go hand in hand. Our research today is the fuel that will propel pension-sector innovation tomorrow.”

Articles in the Spring 2011 issue also include:

• Benchmarking Retirement Income Systems around the World: Which Countries Rank Highest and Why? by David Knox;

• Pension Liability Measurement and Intergenerational Fairness: Two Case Studies by Theo Kocken;

• Incorporating Uncertainty into Accounting Estimates of Pension Liabilities by Ulrich Menzefricke and Wally Smieliauskas;

• How Large Pension Funds Organize Themselves: Findings from a Unique 19-Fund Survey by Jody MacIntosh and Tom Scheibelhut;

• The Road Ahead: Rethinking the Investment Policy Roadmap by Ranji Nagaswami;

• Really Investing for the Long-Term: A Case Study by Alex van der Velden and Otto van Buul ;

• Thinking Strategically about Climate Change: Risks and Opportunities by Danyelle Guyatt, Jane Ambachtsheer and Elisabeth Bourqui; and,

• The BP Crisis as a “Preventable Surprise”: Lessons for Institutional Investors by Raj Thamotheram and Maxime Le Floc’h.

Journal articles are available at no charge online at http://www.rijpm.com/journal/journal/ or as a flipbook here.

The next issue of the Journal is scheduled for release in Fall 2012.

ICPM has become a global catalyst for improving pension management. The Centre sponsors research and fosters dialogue that focuses on building better pension deals, better pension fund organizations, and better pension legislation and regulation. In addition, the Centre looks for opportunities to raise pensions-related content in undergraduate, graduate, and executive programs at the Rotman School and other education-oriented forums. For example, it recently launched the Rotman-ICPM Board Effectiveness Program. Further details on the Centre, including access to the Rotman Journal of International Pension Management, are available at http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/icpm/