Pensions & Investments recognized initiatives in the global pensions and retirement community across three categories in its 2024 Excellence and Innovation Awards, and also presented Judges' Choice awards to entrants.
Presented during the annual P&I WorldPensionSummit conference, held in The Hague, Netherlands, Nov. 5-7, the awards recognized innovation in communication and engagement, investments, and pension fund design and reform.
The awards were presented by Nikki Pirrello, president and publisher of P&I and chair of the P&I WorldPensionSummit, and Don Ezra of Don Ezra Consulting Services and former co-chair, global consulting at Russell Investments. The judges for the awards were members of the WPS advisory board.
Communication and engagement
Taking home this year’s award was the A$175 billion ($117.4 billion) Aware Super, Sydney. The award was given for a revamp of its communication practices in fiscal year 2023, with the super fund reaching out to more than 62,000 participants, seeing more than 11,500 retirement guide downloads and connecting more than 1,500 participants to its "Retire Ready Check-In" retirement income service.
Central Provident Fund Board of Singapore’s “Paying it Forward” campaign took the runner-up spot, while Kenya's CPF Financial Services was the judges' choice.
Investments
Victorious this year was the Dow Employees’ Pension Plan, a single employer defined benefit corporate pension fund based in Midland, Michigan, with assets of approximately $26 billion.
DEPP was highlighted for its tactical asset allocation initiative, which was developed over a three year period by a co-founder of AlphaEngine Global Investment Solutions and DEPP’s CIO, John Blaha.
Runner-up was pension administrator LifeGoals Provident Fund Cyprus, Nicosia, for its development of life-cycle investing for all of the participants within plans under its oversight. The judges' choice award went to SB Asset Management Lithuania for its investment platform for the modernization of multifamily buildings.
Pension fund design and reform
This award’s winner was the State Social Protection Fund of Azerbaijan, a state-run social insurance fund that provides the country’s population with labor pensions, government-mandated benefits and additional social benefits. The fund created a central digital hub to manage and distribute benefits, along with an “e-social” web portal for citizens to check their benefit status and ensure accurate data.
In second place was the Metropolitan Pensions Trust Ghana, a corporate trustee company that manages pension plans, for its inclusive pension initiative which looks to empower Ghana’s informal and low-income workers. Toronto-based Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System took the judges' choice award, for removing barriers for a secure and stable income in retirement. The jury highlighted the defined benefit plan’s targeting of non full-time employees. OMERS managed C$133.6 billion ($97 billion) in assets as of June 30.