Views from USS

17 July 2018

Working with employers: the USS employer training programme

How we work with employers is essential to delivering our pension product to our members and supporting the member journey, ensuring that the scheme runs smoothly. Over the years we have worked closely with employers, via the Institutions Advisory Panel (IAP), to ensure that we are enabling employers to carry out key administration tasks, as well as receiving feedback on how we can do better.

17 May 2018

How pensions work, making investment decisions and why pension funds like USS are becoming powerful investors

USS Investment Management’s Deputy CEO, Howard Brindle, was interviewed for a new podcast, The Return, on the basics of pensions and USS’s innovative investment strategy.

15 May 2018

What does it take to be an active shareholder?

We take our responsibilities as investors seriously at USS and have had a team dedicated to Responsible Investment for almost two decades. We’re investing over £60 billion in a variety of different asset classes, on behalf of thousands of pension scheme members.

6 April 2018

Why a US court case about a Brazilian oil company might matter to your pension

Earlier this year we learned that an historic settlement had been reached in a large and long-running legal case. The total value of the settlement is USD 3 billion (ie. USD 3,000,000,000). This is a genuinely historic settlement for a case of this kind – it’s the largest securities/investments class action settlement in over a decade, and is the largest settlement ever in a class action involving a non-US issuer (ie. Petrobras). It is the fifth largest class action settlement ever in the US.

16 March 2018

Addressing the facts of the USS valuation

Events in the last week have brought to a head very real concerns among members around the country as regards the USS valuation. However, it concerns me that the debate we’ve witnessed has led to some misunderstandings amongst members of the trustee’s position. I would like to take the opportunity to address some of these in turn.

9 March 2018

Rising to the ‘professional’ challenge in investment

Elizabeth Fernando, USS Investment Management’s Head of Equities, was interviewed at the 2018 PLSA Investment Conference on how the equities markets have evolved over the last ten years. She discusses the challenges currently facing the asset management sector and the increased focus on professionalism, and highlights the work USS is doing in responsible investment.

21 February 2018

Discussing deficits

Last summer we published our Annual Report & Accounts and announced that, as at 31 March 2017, our assets had grown in value by more than £10bn in just 12 months, to £60bn. But it was our funding deficit that made headlines and, since then, USS’s funding position has been the subject of some debate as we’ve carried out our latest triennial valuation.

20 February 2018

Carbon footprinting in multi-asset funds – what USS has learned

USS’s Co-Head of Responsible Investment, David Russell, was interviewed by S&P Dow Jones Indices about the approach we have taken to measure carbon footprinting across all asset classes (not just equities) – and some of the challenges we encountered when we tried to do this.

15 December 2017

2017 valuation funding review: the challenges

The current USS valuation is challenging. The issues we have had to address are not unique to us, or the Higher Education sector. They are much broader issues about future economic growth, future investment returns, and how they influence the ability of employers to underwrite pension promises.