L&G – Asset Management, America

L&G’s Pension Solutions Monitor, which estimates the health of a typical US corporate defined benefit pension plan, estimates that pension funding ratios decreased throughout March 2025. Based on market movements, the average funding ratio is estimated to have decreased from 111.5% to 109.6%. Equity markets experienced negative performance over the month with global equities decreasing 3.9% and the S&P 500 down 5.6%. Plan discount rates were estimated to have increased 7 basis points over the month driven by the Treasury component rising 1 basis point and the credit component widening 6 basis points. Plan assets with a traditional “50/50” asset allocation decreased 2.5% while liabilities decreased 0.8%, resulting in a drop to funded ratios by March month-end. Read more: https://lnkd.in/giAs9x4V

We have seen a remarkable resurrection of interest in portable alpha recently. Evidence of this resurgence ranges from client inquiries to industry papers and articles to conference panels and side bars. Portable alpha is a long-standing construct that allows investors to access potential enhanced performance through a range of markets and strategies and transfer those returns to their portfolio’s strategic benchmark by using a derivative overlay. In a classic example, alpha is sourced from hedge funds and overlaid with US large cap equity beta. This has the potential to help investors beat benchmarks in markets that are otherwise highly efficient and difficult to outperform. Read more of our thought leadership piece by David Chapman, CFA: https://ow.ly/Pp9950Vpgwr

At the current rate of progress, it will take until 2158, which is roughly five generations from now, to reach full gender parity, according to data from the World Economic Forum. In honor of Women's History Month, throughout March employees took pictures striking the #AccelerateAction pose to show their support and solidarity for International Women's Day 2025. Focusing on the need to Accelerate Action emphasizes the importance of taking swift and decisive steps to achieve gender equality. Together, let's Accelerate Action to speed up the rate of progress worldwide!

After an extensive search, L&G is pleased to announce that Jed Plafker will be joining as US CEO, L&G – Asset Management, America. Jed joins us from Franklin Templeton, where he has been since 1994 and currently serves as Executive Vice President of Global Alliances and New Business Strategies. Over his long tenure at Franklin Templeton, he has held senior roles in legal, distribution, and business leadership across key global markets. He has a strong track record in investment distribution and strategy, and we believe that Jed’s proven leadership will make him an outstanding addition to our senior team. Read our press release: https://ow.ly/y4Gs50VoiS8

March Madness has begun! Our People and Women’s Collective Culture Working Groups (CWG) hosted a March Madness Watch Party in our café! Colleagues enjoyed pizza, wings and drinks while cheering and wearing swag for their favorite teams. Some even stepped away from the TVs so shoot hoops themselves with our Pop-A-Shot game. Employees were also encouraged to fill out both men and women’s brackets. The winner of each bracket will receive a free lunch for their team! We can’t wait to see who wins!

Corporate defined benefit plans continue to see funded status improvements, and client conversations increasingly center on how to optimize their end-game portfolio given rising allocations to fixed income. Incorporating securitized assets in end-state portfolios can unlock significant benefits while supporting the primary objective of funded status preservation. By allocating a portion of the fixed income portfolio to high-quality securitized assets, plan sponsors can optimize returns without sacrificing their hedging objectives. Read more of our blog by Samuel Diaz: https://ow.ly/ZfbK50Vl29J

Performance results for US Commercial Real Estate (CRE) in the final quarter of 2024 confirm a cycle inflection to positive returns in the second half of the year. The NCREIF Expanded National Property Index posted positive total returns in both the third and fourth quarters of 2024 after negatives starting in the fourth quarter 2022. Over the four quarters of 2024, total return amounted to 0.6% with capital appreciation at -4.0% offset by income return. The erosion of capital diminished over the course of the year from -1.40% in the first quarter to -0.24% in the fourth quarter. Read our Real Estate Pulse newsletter by Martha Peyton for more highlights: https://ow.ly/UccB50VjfLp Please view the newsletter for complete disclosures.

We’re about half-way through our final rotation of the Asset Management Diversity Accelerator (AMDA) program! We’ve enjoying working with Diana Vo (left) and Destiny Robinson (right) as they’ve spent the past several months as Junior Research Associates on our team. Diana and Destiny are completing the program with us after spending 8-month rotations at William Blair and Allstate. All the analysts in the program work with each firm’s investment research teams and contribute to the investment process.

Last week, David Chapman, CFA spoke at Markets Group 12th Annual Tri-State Institutional Forum in New York. He joined Summer Zhao, CFA, Investment Director, Lafayette College and Sarie Diloné, Vice President, Alternatives Group, Callan on the "Alternatives – Time to Shine" panel. They discussed how institutional investors are eyeing expected returns across the alternative’s spectrum and how investors are instilling crisis management and downside risk. Thanks to Ronan Cosgrave, Partner, Albourne for moderating! #MarketsGroup

Yesterday, our CWG Women’s Collective hosted Women’s History Month trivia in our café. Drinks and snacks from women-owned businesses were available to enjoy as employees tested their knowledge in categories such as trailblazers (first to do it), GOATs (Greatest Of All Time), women’s history and women’s sports. Congrats to our winners Daniel Finn, CFA, Emily Park and Magda Pecyna! Test your women’s history knowledge! Which woman has won the most Grammy awards? What day is International Women’s Day? Who is the first woman to win a Nobel Prize? What percentage of the US workforce was female in 2024?