The Italian pension fund for school employees, Fondo Espero, has picked Eurizon Capital as its asset manager for the newly-established ‘Dinamico’ sub-fund.
Eurizon started managing the sub-fund’s assets on 1 November, with a mandate lasting until the end of October 2027, according to an updated version of the scheme’s investment policy.
The pension fund has set up the new ‘Dinamico’ option for riskier investments, in addition to a life cycle investment option, while planning a review of its strategic asset allocation, following the introduction of the silent-consent (silenzio-assenso) clause, to tactically divert employees’ severance payments to the pension fund.
According to the scheme’s strategic asset allocation, Eurizon will invest 60% of the assets held in the ‘Dinamico’ sub-fund in equities of developed and emerging markets, and 40% in global investment grade bonds, hedging the exchange rate.
Fondo Espero set up the new option alongside its two existing sub-funds: ‘Garanzia’ and ‘Crescita’.
The sub-fund ‘Garanzia’ receives the severance pay (Trattamento di Fine Rapporto, TFR) channelled by employees, or the contributions of those members who have explicitly chosen to invest mostly in bonds.
The sub-fund ‘Crescita’ is a riskier option investing in bonds, equities, and money market instruments.
UnipolSai manages ‘Garanzia’, worth €250m at the end of 2023, while Groupama, State Street Global Advisors, Allianz Global Investors, AXA Investment Management, and Vontobel run assets totalling €1.16bn held in the ‘Crescita’ option, according to the scheme’s latest financial statement.
Espero is also introducing a new life-cycle option that will allocate savings in the riskier sub-fund ‘Dinamico’ to end up in the low-risk fund ‘Garanzia’ at the end of a saver’s working life.
The latest digital edition of IPE’s magazine is now available
No comments yet