As the world turns from shut down to recovery, Mirko Cardinale, Head of Investment Strategy & Advice at USS Investment Management, thinks about what the future might look like.
I joined USS Investment Management at the start of the year from BlackRock, in order to build on some of the great work that had already been done in our fixed income business area. This part of our portfolio, which includes all fixed income, treasury and trading is focussed on classes of investments which are well-suited to a pension scheme as they provide more certain and secure returns, while matching some of the risks associated with our liabilities.
The last few weeks have witnessed the biggest stockmarket crash since 2008 and the difficult news keeps coming. Leisure industries are being hit hard and small businesses and more financially leveraged businesses will suffer. Following several years of relatively benign conditions, 2020 has changed that course in a dramatic way.
What might the investment outlook look like for the next decade and beyond? Mirko Cardinale, Head of Investment Strategy and Advice, at USS Investment Management’s explains how our active approach to managing the global decline in investment returns ensures that we remain alive to both the risks and opportunities available.
We held our annual Institutions’ Meeting on 4 December. The meeting provides us with an opportunity to formally update our sponsoring employers on how we’ve performed, the work we are doing to improve the services we provide, and our perspective on how we can deliver on our mission: to work with Higher Education employers to build a secure financial future for our members and their families.
As the saying goes, hindsight is 20/20 – and this is particularly salient when reviewing investment performance. The “right” investment decisions are revealed and obvious in retrospect, judged over chosen time intervals. But decisions must be made in prospect, based on expectations, probabilities and risk tolerances.
The Trustee Board has a crucial role to play in how USS is run – so we asked some of our directors to talk us through its composition and how its decisions are made. We also took the chance to ask them to share their thoughts on the scheme as a whole, gender diversity, and engagement with the Pensions Regulator. You can hear from them directly in these films.
USS plays a key role in supporting the continued success of a sector that is of vital importance to the UK economy.
When I was offered the role of Chief Pensions Officer at USS, the high calibre of its people and its commitment to quality and value really appealed to me. Recently, I’ve been reflecting on if and how my initial expectations, shaped from the outside looking in, have been met or changed over the course of my first 100 days in post.