McGill International Portfolio Challenge

Millions of individuals in the private sector either do not have access to a workplace retirement plan or choose not to enrol because of having their money locked in. How do we build retirement plans that encourage long-term savings while allowing individuals to meet their short-term liquidity needs?

Inflation remains stubbornly high, and it is crushing real returns for investment managers. The situation is especially challenging for pensioners who live on a fixed income. We study the case of a fictional Canadian Defined Contribution pension fund that is designing an inflationary resilient decumulation strategy for its members.

Asset managers have committed to achieving net-zero portfolios by 2050, but a scarcity of high-quality data and a lack of goal alignment with asset owners have made this an arduous task. Amidst rising temperatures and an everchanging regulatory landscape, how can they design sustainable strategies that transition to carbon-neutral investments without sacrificing returns?

How can long-term asset managers find ways to sustainably generate returns while minimizing the risks in the current environment of ultra-low bond yields? We focus on the ongoing pension reform in the Netherlands and study the portfolio design of a fictional newly launched collective defined contribution plan (CDC) which provides new possibilities for plan members to share risks with each other.

Countries are seeking independence and geo-economic dynamics are changing. How should long-term asset managers invest in the midst of rising protectionist tendencies and social inequalities? We study the British National Strategic Fund, a new sovereign wealth fund with a triple mandate to generate risk-adjusted returns and promote economic equality and independence.

We study the case of a fictional fund based in Newfoundland and Labrador. The fund is under pressure to divest from its holdings in the oil & gas industry, which is the large, revenue-generating part of the fund's assets. The purpose of the case is to devise an optimal portfolio strategy that accommodates the competing interests of the different stakeholders involved and addresses climate risks.

The underfunding of U.S. state pension plans is incredibly difficult to solve because it involves a large and diverse group of stakeholders with conflicting interests. U.S. regulation also mandates pension funds to discount their liabilities at the expected return on their assets. We study the case of an underfunded public pension plan in a fictional U.S. state: Vandalia.

When a private pension plan runs a deficit, should the fund manager try to eliminate the deficit by taking on more risk and aim for higher returns, or is it up to the corporate sponsor to make a special contribution to the plan? We study the case of an underfunded private pension plan in Canada.