Global Pension Transparency Benchmark

Promoting transparency for better pension outcomes

Why Transparency Matters

The Global Pension Transparency Benchmark is a world first global standard for pension disclosure, bringing a focus to transparency in a bid to improve pension outcomes for members.

The GPTB ranks 15 countries on public disclosures of key value generation elements for the five largest pension fund organisations within each country. The GPTB focuses on the transparency and quality of public disclosures with quality relating to the completeness, clarity, information value and comparability of disclosures.

The overall country benchmark scores look at four factors: governance and organisation; performance; costs; and responsible investing, which are measured by assessing hundreds of underlying components.

Countries Analysed

Funds Reviewed

Questions Asked

Data Points Analysed

There is plenty of evidence that a lack of transparency has negative consequences for relationships and organisations of all types, whether they be individuals, governments, corporations, or pension funds. Transparency is the right thing to do, but there are many benefits beyond this simple moral imperative:

Transparency and accountability go hand in hand and lead to improved decision making

Improved relationships and interactions across a broad spectrum of stakeholders including beneficiaries, plan sponsors, regulators, suppliers and concerned citizens

Ultimately, better outcomes through clarity of purpose, sound goals and accountability for progress

This new benchmark reframes the transparency narrative from a narrow and negative focus on costs to a more holistic and positive concept of transparency and includes governance and strategy, value generation and sustainability.

Top1000funds.com and CEM Benchmarking have long had aligned goals – to highlight industry best practice and drive better pension outcomes globally. The development of this benchmark is in line with those goals.

Understand the methodology

“A lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity.” Dalai Lama

Select the year below to review the results from the current and previous GPTB projects.
You can also hover over countries, factors and methodology on the navigation bar to see the full results from the previous year.

Overall Findings 2022

This second iteration of the Global Pension Transparency Benchmark continues to reveal the need for improvement in pension transparency across the globe. Given the slow evolutionary nature of the pension industry in general, this is not an entirely surprising result.

It was heartening to see that progress is being made in some areas, particularly in respect to responsible investing, but also in governance disclosures.

The improvements seen in disclosures around responsible investing mean that this factor is no longer the lowest scoring factor. Improvements in governance disclosures mean that factor is now the highest scoring factor overall, followed by performance (the highest scoring factor in last year’s review), with cost being the lowest scoring factor.

For responsible investing, the improvements were most common among funds who were disclosing some, but not a lot of information last year. While some top scoring funds did improve on the margins, it was those funds in the middle of the rankings that showed the biggest improvement. Lamentably there was no improvement among the lowest scoring funds, 21 of which still received a score of 20 or below.

Governance scores reflected an increase in funds disclosing information about their operations as a whole, disclosing important corporate information beyond their core mission of managing assets. There was more discussion of enterprise-wide initiatives and goals, as well as increased discussion on internal compensation philosophies and diversity programs.

These two areas of improvement were often related. It seems that as pension organisations disclose more on how they steward portfolio companies, they are becoming aware that information of importance to them in this regard could similarly be of importance to their own stakeholders in relation to the fund itself.

While performance reporting at the fund level is generally well done, asset class level disclosures continue to disappoint.

More funds are quantifying their progress and goals around carbon footprint and other areas of responsible investing.

Stand alone reports on responsible investing are becoming more common, enabling funds to tell a cohesive story.

Cost disclosures continue to vary considerably by country and show a strong correlation to domestic disclosure standards.

Top1000funds.com coverage of the Global Pension Transparency Benchmark

Overall Findings 2021

The Global Pension Transparency Benchmark has revealed the need for serious improvement in pension transparency across the globe.

Overall the transparency of disclosure varies greatly, both between countries and between funds, across factors that were measured. In some instances there are wild variances between the best and worst performers.

While some countries and funds scored well on certain factors, on average transparency of disclosure needs improvement. Overall pension funds around the world scored best on performance disclosure, followed by governance, cost and responsible investment. But the average scores were low, with only the performance factor score demonstrating above average results (average country score of 68).

Transparency was best on the performance factor

Reporting around responsible investing lacks clarity and consistency

Within each factor there was a standout country

Cost factor disclosures varied considerably

More insights on the Global Pension Transparency Benchmark

Overall Results 2022

Country Results

Country	Min	Avg	Max	Performance Ranking	Average Score (perf)	Min - Max (perf)	Min	Avg	Max	Cost Ranking	Average Score (cost)	Min - Max (cost)	Min	Avg	Max	Governance Ranking	Average Ranking (gov)	Min - Max (gov)	Min	Avg	Max	Responsible Investing Ranking	Average Score (RI)	Min - Max (RI)	Min	Avg	Max	Overall Ranking	Average Score (over)	Min - Max (over)
Australia	60	71	79	4	71	60 - 79	31	53	65	7	53	31 - 65	80	86	95	2	86	80 - 95	20	55	78	8	55	20 - 78	49	64	73	4	64	49 - 73	10
Brazil	27	43	69	15	43	27 - 69	40	49	58	8	49	40 - 58	40	51	60	13	51	40 - 60	3	23	46	13	23	3 - 46	30	40	56	13	40	30 - 56
Canada	68	81	87	2	81	68 - 87	49	64	81	3	64	49 - 81	92	94	97	1	94	92 - 97	59	70	77	3	70	59 - 77	71	75	81	1	75	71 - 81
Chile	36	55	69	13	55	36 - 69	47	56	63	4	56	47 - 63	46	60	72	10	60	46 - 72	5	11	20	15	11	5 - 20	34	45	54	12	45	34 - 54
Denmark	38	56	70	12	56	38 - 70	20	45	65	9	45	20 - 65	69	78	93	4	78	69 - 93	65	68	74	4	68	65 - 74	52	60	67	5	60	52 - 67
Finland	45	62	70	6	62	45 - 70	21	27	43	14	27	21 - 43	49	73	87	6	73	49 - 87	14	67	88	5	67	14 - 88	31	55	65	8	55	31 - 65
Japan	35	56	83	11	56	35 - 83	26	36	54	13	36	26 - 54	32	46	63	14	46	32 - 63	0	23	67	12	23	0 - 67	23	39	62	14	39	23 - 62
Mexico	49	53	59	14	53	49 - 59	6	10	14	15	10	6 - 14	6	34	70	15	34	6 - 70	0	12	39	14	12	0 - 39	15	26	35	15	26	15 - 35
Netherlands	59	65	73	5	65	59 - 73	71	77	89	1	77	71 - 89	54	66	78	8	66	54 - 78	62	77	83	1	77	62 - 83	65	69	74	2	69	65 - 74
Norway	34	58	82	9	58	34 - 82	19	44	78	10	44	19 - 78	35	65	83	9	65	35 - 83	38	59	79	7	59	38 - 79	39	55	75	9	55	39 - 75
South Africa	55	62	79	7	62	55 - 79	36	42	51	12	42	36 - 51	49	68	84	7	68	49 - 84	17	47	67	9	47	17 - 67	49	56	64	7	56	49 - 64
Sweden	67	71	75	4	71	67 - 75	35	54	66	5	54	35 - 66	77	81	87	3	81	77 - 87	67	76	88	2	76	67 - 88	62	68	74	3	68	62 - 74
Switzerland	45	61	77	8	61	45 - 77	57	65	79	2	65	57 - 79	30	54	82	12	54	30 - 82	20	40	55	11	40	20 - 55	44	53	68	11	53	44 - 68
United Kingdom	52	57	66	10	57	52 - 66	32	53	74	6	53	32 - 74	57	73	90	5	73	57 - 90	33	60	75	6	60	33 - 75	48	59	70	6	59	48 - 70
United States	66	84	94	1	84	66 - 94	4	43	68	11	43	4 - 68	35	54	71	11	54	35 - 71	0	43	71	10	43	0 - 71	35	54	72	10	54	35 - 72

Year-on-Year Comparisons

Fund Results

Fund	Country	Score	Rank	Score	Rank	Score	Rank	Score	Rank	Score	Rank
AustralianSuper	AUS	73	7	65	14	83	15	76	14	78	10
Aware Super	AUS	70	12	60	19	95	2	69	26	67	25
UniSuper	AUS	66	21	52	38	83	15	79	11	60	37
Future Fund	AUS	62	32	55	29	90	8	60	42	50	42
QSuper (now: Australian Retirement Trust)	AUS	49	49	31	58	80	21	73	18	20	55
Previ	BRA	56	39	54	34	60	46	69	26	46	44
Vivest	BRA	37	61	40	50	45	65	27	75	42	47
Petros	BRA	44	54	58	23	59	49	49	61	15	61
Funcef	BRA	34	66	53	36	52	55	29	74	8	66
Itaú Unibanco	BRA	30	70	40	50	40	67	43	68	3	71
BCI	CAN	73	7	49	40	92	6	82	8	77	11
Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP)	CAN	75	2	63	16	94	4	80	10	73	17
CDPQ	CAN	71	10	59	21	95	2	68	29	72	18
CPP Investments	CAN	81	1	81	2	97	1	87	4	71	19
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP)	CAN	74	4	70	11	92	6	87	4	59	38
PUBLICA	CHE	68	16	73	8	82	18	73	18	55	41
SBB	CHE	44	54	57	26	30	73	45	65	48	43
BVK	CHE	53	44	79	3	48	61	52	55	42	47
Compenswiss	CHE	57	38	58	23	66	43	77	13	36	52
MIGROS	CHE	44	54	57	26	46	63	57	49	20	55
Capital	CHL	54	40	59	21	69	38	63	37	20	55
Cuprum	CHL	44	54	55	29	60	46	55	51	11	64
Modelo	CHL	34	66	47	43	46	63	36	71	9	65
Provida	CHL	47	52	63	16	72	32	51	58	8	66
Habitat	CHL	44	54	55	29	53	54	69	26	5	69
ATP Group	DEN	65	23	56	28	93	5	46	64	74	16
PFA Pension	DEN	62	32	40	50	86	13	61	39	71	19
PensionDanmark	DEN	67	17	65	14	75	28	70	23	68	24
Industriens	DEN	53	44	20	68	70	36	64	36	65	30
Sampension	DEN	52	48	45	44	69	38	38	70	65	30
Varma	FIN	65	23	24	65	87	10	70	23	88	1
Elo	FIN	64	27	43	48	67	42	70	23	83	3
Ilmarinen	FIN	63	30	26	63	87	10	65	35	83	3
Keva	FIN	54	40	21	67	75	28	61	39	67	25
The State Pension Fund of Finland (VER)	FIN	31	68	22	66	49	59	45	65	14	62
Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF)	JPN	62	32	54	34	51	56	83	6	67	25
Pension Fund Association for Local Government Officials (Chikyoren)	JPN	35	62	31	58	39	68	45	65	28	54
National Federation of Mutual Aid (Shichousonren)	JPN	47	52	40	50	63	45	74	17	18	58
Pension Fund Association	JPN	28	71	26	63	43	66	41	69	4	70
KKR	JPN	23	74	28	62	32	72	35	72	0	72
Banorte	MEX	26	72	7	73	12	74	49	61	39	50
Sura	MEX	35	62	9	72	70	36	53	54	14	62
Profuturo	MEX	31	68	14	70	50	57	59	43	6	68
Citibanamex	MEX	24	73	13	71	34	71	52	55	0	72
Principal Afore	MEX	15	75	6	74	6	75	50	59	0	72
Stichting Bedrijfstakpensioenfonds voor de Bouwnijverheid (BOUW)	NLD	69	15	73	8	66	43	61	39	83	3
Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP	NLD	74	4	75	6	73	31	73	18	83	3
Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn (PFZW)	NLD	70	12	89	1	54	53	67	30	81	7
Pensioenfonds Metaal & Techniek (PMT)	NLD	65	23	71	10	60	46	63	37	76	12
Pensioenfonds Metalektro (PME)	NLD	67	17	76	5	78	25	59	43	62	36
Government Pension Fund Global	NOR	75	2	78	4	71	33	82	8	79	9
KLP	NOR	54	40	19	69	79	24	50	59	76	12
Government Pension Fund Domestic	NOR	64	27	48	42	83	15	76	14	58	39
Oslo Pension Fund (OPF)	NOR	39	60	29	61	57	50	34	73	43	46
Equinor Pension Fund	NOR	40	59	45	44	35	69	48	63	38	51
Old Mutual SuperFund	SA	54	40	36	55	49	59	59	43	67	25
Sanlam Umbrella Fund	SA	53	44	44	47	55	52	55	51	65	30
Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF)	SA	58	36	41	49	84	14	59	43	44	45
Sentinel Retirement Fund	SA	64	27	51	39	78	25	79	11	42	47
Eskom Pension and Provident Fund (EPPF)	SA	49	49	39	54	75	28	58	48	17	60
AP4	SWE	74	4	61	18	80	21	75	16	88	1
Alecta	SWE	67	17	49	40	81	19	67	30	81	7
AP3	SWE	71	10	66	13	87	10	67	30	76	12
AMF	SWE	62	32	35	56	80	21	72	21	70	22
AP7	SWE	66	21	58	23	77	27	72	21	67	25
Pension Protection Fund	UK	65	23	45	44	90	8	59	43	75	15
Universities Superannuation Scheme	UK	70	12	74	7	81	19	66	33	70	22
BT Pension Scheme	UK	53	44	32	57	71	33	52	55	64	34
NatWest Group Pension Fund	UK	58	36	60	19	68	40	54	53	58	39
Lloyds Bank Pension Scheme	UK	48	51	53	36	57	50	57	49	33	53
New York State Common Retirement Fund	USA	63	30	55	29	50	57	83	6	71	19
CalPERS	USA	72	9	68	12	71	33	94	1	65	30
CalSTRS	USA	67	17	55	29	68	40	89	2	63	35
New York City Bureau of Asset Management	USA	35	62	4	75	35	69	88	3	18	58
Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board	USA	35	62	31	58	48	61	66	33	0	72

The fund assessments were conducted between August 1 -December 31, 2021
Where the scores are the same, a joint ranking has been awarded listed alphabetically

*At the time of the review, QSuper was a standalone fund. It has since merged with Sunsuper to create Australian Retirement Trust.

Factor results

View data, rankings and analysis of each factors (cost, governance, performance and responsible investment)

View factor scores

Country results

View data, rankings and analysis of the 15 countries and underlying pension funds

View country results

Fund results

View data, rankings and analysis of the pension funds

View fund results

Overall Results 2021

Country	Min	Avg	Max	Performance Ranking	Average Score (perf)	Min - Max (perf)	Min	Avg	Max	Cost Ranking	Average Score (cost)	Min - Max (cost)	Min	Avg	Max	Governance Ranking	Average Ranking (gov)	Min - Max (gov)	Min	Avg	Max	Average Score (RI)	Min - Max (RI)	Min	Avg	Max	Overall Ranking	Average Score (over)	Min - Max (over)
Australia	66	76	86	4	76	66 - 86	58	67	84	3	67	58. - 84	65	72	80	2	72	65 - 80	8	46	70	46	8 - 70	50	65	79	8	65	50 - 79	10
Brazil	35	51	67	15	51	35 - 67	38	57	70	6	57	38 - 70	40	43	45	12	43	40 - 45	8	19	27	19	8 - 27	34	43	52	13	43	34 - 52
Canada	75	84	90	2	84	75 - 90	59	69	83	2	69	59 - 83	72	86	97	1	86	72 - 97	47	58	66	58	47 - 66	69	74	82	5	74	69 - 82
Chile	52	59	70	13	59	52 - 70	25	39	51	12	39	25 - 51	38	51	63	9	51	38 - 63	2	6	11	6	2 - 11	30	38	42	14	38	30 - 42
Denmark	51	61	70	12	61	51 - 70	41	51	59	8	51	41 - 59	47	63	91	4	63	47 - 91	46	61	74	61	46 - 74	55	59	68	3	59	55. - 68
Finland	64	69	77	7	69	64 - 77	18	28	31	14	28	18 - 31	38	57	71	7	57	38 - 71	13	58	81	58	13 - 81	33	53	63	4	53	33 - 63
Japan	47	69	86	8	69	47 - 86	30	38	46	13	38	30 - 46	18	28	41	14	28	18 - 41	0	20	40	20	0 - 40	24	39	48	12	39	24 - 48
Mexico	50	55	67	14	55	50 - 67	19	23	26	15	23	19 - 26	0	17	42	15	17	0 - 42	0	2	5	2	0 - 5	18	25	33	15	25	18 - 33
Netherlands	62	69	74	6	69	62 - 74	71	83	88	1	83	71 - 88	43	56	69	8	56	43 - 69	58	71	79	71	58. - 79	59	70	78	2	70	59 - 78
Norway	46	67	93	9	67	46 - 93	18	42	64	10	42	18 - 64	22	48	64	10	48	22 - 64	6	47	79	47	6 - 79	34	51	73	6	51	34 - 73
South Africa	56	66	80	11	66	56. - 80	34	46	63	9	46	34 - 63	43	60	77	6	60	43 - 77	8	40	57	40	8 - 57.	44	53	63	9	53	44 - 63
Sweden	73	77	82	3	77	73 - 82	43	57	70	5	57	43 - 70	64	70	78	3	70	64 - 78	66	73	88	73	66 - 88	65	69	74	1	69	65 - 74
Switzerland	56	70	84	5	70	56. - 84	40	65	82	4	65	40 - 82	26	42	78	13	42	26 - 78	18	29	49	29	18 - 49	43	52	71	11	52	43 - 71
United Kingdom	61	66	76	10	66	61 - 76	42	56	71	7	56	42 - 71	48	63	86	5	63	48 - 86	24	47	63	47	24 - 63	50	58	65	7	58	50 - 65
United States	79	87	94	1	87	79 - 94	24	41	59	11	41	24 - 59	31	47	59	11	47	31 - 59	5	35	64	35	5 - 64	38	52	67	10	52	38 - 67

Factor results

View data, rankings and analysis of each factors (cost, governance, performance and responsible investment)

View factor scores

Country results

View data, rankings and analysis of the 15 countries and underlying pension funds

View country results

Insights

Funds need to evolve governance disclosures

While funds around the world do a good job of disclosing governance frameworks related to financial and investment risks, as revealed in the GPTB, but what is best practice for communicating governance around addressing large, one-off events such as the impact of COVID or war?

GPTB shows pension transparency improvement

The transparency of pension fund disclosures has improved in the past year across the 15 countries and 75 pension funds measured in the Global Pension Transparency Benchmark, a collaboration between Top1000funds.com and CEM Benchmarking.

Innovation needed on fund disclosure of corporate strategy

A minority of pension funds reviewed for the GPTB publicly disclosure their organizational strategy in a way that goes beyond disclosures of economic and market conditions and the impact on the performance of their investments. Michael Reid argues there is room for improvement in communicating key corporate activities to stakeholders.

Why transparency is important for CalPERS

Anne Simpson, managing investment director, board governance and sustainability tells Amanda White why transparency is so important at CalPERS and what the fund is doing to improve it.

Why disclosure and communication are key to pension excellence

Comprehensive, holistic value disclosures and compelling communication are key benchmarks for pension funds. This has been confirmed by the first year experience working with leading global pension funds for the Global Pension Transparency Benchmark, a collaboration between Top1000funds.com and CEM Benchmarking. In year two, in recognition of this belief and communication excellence, we have decided to award bonus points to funds preparing Framework integrated annual reports. Mike Heale looks at four examples of pension funds already using the Framework.

Cost disclosure distorts reality

The Global Pension Transparency Benchmark (GPTB) measured four factors in its assessment of transparency of pension fund disclosures, here Amanda White looks specifically at the level of cost transparency across pension funds globally.

Much Ado About Transparency

Global Pension Transparency Benchmark advisory board member Lorelei Graye, says the benchmark combined with better data standards for incoming reporting will usher in more constructive transparency.

View all insights

Co-founders

Mike Heale

Principal,
CEM Benchmarking

get in touch

Amanda White

Editor,
Top1000funds.com

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“We are passionate about improving the global pension industry and we think shining the light on these elements that drive value will do that”

Meet the full team

Advisory Board

Keith Ambachtsheer

President, KPA Advisory Services; co-founder and board member, CEM

Fiona Dunsire

Not-for-profit board member

Lorelei Graye

Founder, Adopting Data Standards

Angélique Laskewitz

Director, Association of Investors for Sustainable Development

Neil Murphy

Vice-president, communications, Investment Management Corporation of Ontario

David Atkin, independent arbiter

Chief executive, PRI

Each esteemed member of the GPTB advisory board brings a unique perspective on the importance of transparency and reporting from all corners of the globe. Their feedback and ideas have been instrumental in developing this concept.

Learn more about the Global Pension Transparency Benchmark project from Top1000funds.com and CEM Benchmarking

Please note, your details will be shared with both CEM and Top1000funds.com. Your data will never be shared with any other organisations or third parties.

CEM Benchmarking is an independent provider of cost and performance benchmarking information for pension funds and other institutional asset owners worldwide. It believes ‘what gets measured gets managed’ and is deeply committed to helping clients run cost-effective operations that generate value for their stakeholders. With vast industry knowledge and a robust database spanning 28 years and $10+ trillion in AUM, CEM helps more than half of the world’s top 300 pension schemes understand and manage their costs and performance. CEM also facilitates better pension outcomes by sharing cutting edge research derived from its proprietary databases.

get in touch

Top1000funds.com is the market leading news and analysis site for the world’s largest institutional investors. It focuses on leading the global investment industry to continuous improvement through case studies of best practice in governance and decision making, portfolio construction and efficient portfolio management, fees and costs, and sustainable investing. The publication pushes the industry to question whether status quo processes and behaviours to tackle risks and opportunities will be sufficient in the future, and actively campaigns for diversity, sustainability, transparency, innovation and better alignment of fees in the investment industry. Top1000funds.com is read by investment professionals in more than 40 countries.

get in touch

Global Pension Transparency Benchmark

Why Transparency Matters

Countries Analysed

Funds Reviewed

Questions Asked

Data Points Analysed

“A lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity.” Dalai Lama

Select the year below to review the results from the current and previous GPTB projects.You can also hover over countries, factors and methodology on the navigation bar to see the full results from the previous year.

Overall Findings 2022

Overall Findings 2021

Overall Results 2022

Country Results

Year-on-Year Comparisons

Fund Results

Factor results

Country results

Fund results

Overall Results 2021

Factor results

Country results

Insights

Funds need to evolve governance disclosures

GPTB shows pension transparency improvement

Innovation needed on fund disclosure of corporate strategy

Why transparency is important for CalPERS

Why disclosure and communication are key to pension excellence

Cost disclosure distorts reality

Much Ado About Transparency

Co-founders

Mike Heale

Amanda White

“We are passionate about improving the global pension industry and we think shining the light on these elements that drive value will do that”

Advisory Board

Keith Ambachtsheer

Fiona Dunsire

Lorelei Graye

Angélique Laskewitz

Neil Murphy

David Atkin, independent arbiter

Each esteemed member of the GPTB advisory board brings a unique perspective on the importance of transparency and reporting from all corners of the globe. Their feedback and ideas have been instrumental in developing this concept.

Learn more about the Global Pension Transparency Benchmark project from Top1000funds.com and CEM Benchmarking

Success!

Select the year below to review the results from the current and previous GPTB projects.
You can also hover over countries, factors and methodology on the navigation bar to see the full results from the previous year.