Maiyuresh Rajah, director of investments at Aviva, is this week’s guest on The Professional Investment Podcast.
He chose Pension Age’s story about TPR outlining its vision for megafunds and simplified pensions market by 2036 as his news story of the week.
Now the debate about pension schemes investing in private assets has been settled, providers are starting to put their private asset allocations in place.
Mai discusses the approach Aviva is taking to its private asset allocation – which using a multi-asset approach including third-party managers as well as Aviva Investors.
While pension providers are taking many different approaches to investing in private assets, this may diminish over time as the sector consolidates.
There is a concern it will become harder for pension providers to allocate capital to smaller managers as the assets under management become larger.
Mai suggested said smaller asset managers need to build strategic partnerships throughout the investment chain – both with larger private asset managers and with asset owners.
We unpacked how the contractual over-ride in the Pensions Scheme Act will allow insurers like Aviva to shift members of legacy schemes to better pension provision.
Mai also outlined how Aviva is building a retirement income for members so they can access drawdown earlier on and then ensure there is an annuity to provide an income for life.
Finally we talked about the private asset investment opportunities – such as allocating to healthcare companies – which Mai feels excited about.
There is a nice symmetry to improving later life and longevity by investing for retirement, he added.
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