Economics seminar series: Pension funds and market tumult

Dates: Thursday, May 25, 2023 - 12:00 to 13:30
Location: Online via Microsoft Teams

Watch the full recording

On 25 May 2023, OU Economics hosted a seminar entitled 'Pensions and its discontents'. We had the pleasure to hear from Jennifer Churchill and Bruno Bonizzi (from minute 0:03:40 onwards) and Con Keating (0:45:20 onwards). Their presentations were followed by discussion and Q&A (1:12:30 until end).

Abstract

UK pension funds hold over £2.5 trillion worth of assets, making them one of the largest pools of wealth in Europe. Their role has been crucial in the process of ‘financialisation’ – the broad expansion and growth of financial markets.

The Covid crisis and financial turbulence of September 2022 exposed the linkages between pension funds and short-term liquidity, casting doubts about their ability to act as patient investors, especially as stabilising forces during crises.

Speakers:

Jennifer Churchill

Jennifer Churchill is senior lecturer at UWE, Bristol Business School. She previously worked in policy and public affairs and first became interested in pensions whilst lobbying on what became the Pensions Act 2007. She has subsequently done academic research on pensions across Europe, Latin America and East Asia.

Bruno Bonizzi

Bruno Bonizzi is Senior Lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire, Business School. His research interests include financial integration and financialisation, with specific focus on the role of pension funds in the UK and in emerging economies.

Con Keating

Con Keating is a retired financial analyst. He is currently the chair of the Bond Commission of the European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies (EFFAS) having previously chaired for seven years the EFFAS committee on Methods and Measures. His professional career began as a merchant banker and ended as the head of risk management for a major international insurance group. In the interim, he headed bond trading at First Boston/Credit Suisse First Boston and Bankers Trust and was a portfolio manager for equities, bonds and derivatives. After retirement he was retained by the Bank of Japan and Asian Development Bank to design plans for the development of the capital markets of a number of Asian countries, including the Peoples Republic of China and Republic of Korea. For the past twenty years, after a decade researching and developing risk management tools and models, his research has been heavily focussed on pensions design and has included projects undertaken for the World Bank and OECD.