New Head of World’s Largest Pension Takes Long-Term View

The new President of Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund pledged this week to take a long-term view on investing; he also dropped several other tidbits, including his intention to not push to manage stocks internally.

Norihiro Takahashi took the reins of the pension fund on Friday.

More from Bloomberg:

Japan’s $1.2 trillion Government Pension Investment Fund is willing to ride out market turbulence, said its new head, who pledged to maintain the asset manager’s long-term strategy.

Norihiro Takahashi, 58, takes over as president of the world’s biggest pension fund from Friday. Being a responsible steward of the nation’s retirement savings is a top priority, Takahashi said at a press conference in Tokyo. GPIF should diversify across asset classes including non-traditional ones, he said.

“For an organization to achieve long-term returns, they need to approach their portfolio management the same way,” said Takahashi, speaking after the health ministry appointed him to the top job on Friday.

[…]

Takahashi won’t push to manage stock investments internally after a proposal to do so was deferred, he said. He joins GPIF with a pedigree including managing a debt portfolio at Norinchukin Bank, an agricultural cooperative lender. He was most recently president of closely held JA Mitsui Leasing Ltd.

GPIF oversees $1.2 trillion in assets.

Photo by Ville Miettinen via Flickr CC License