Massachusetts Pension Fund Increases Corporate Diversity Standards ai-cio.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ai-cio.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By State House News Service
The board that manages the state s $86.9 billion pension fund voted Wednesday morning to increase its standards for board diversity and equal employment opportunity at the thousands of companies it invests in, and to promote shareholder proposals related to health coverage and pandemic hazard pay.
The Pension Reserves Investment Management (PRIM) Board signed off on the policy changes developed by Treasurer Deborah Goldberg and recommended by a PRIM subcommittee that would direct PRIM to use its proxy vote as a shareholder to vote against board nominees if the gender and racial makeup of the company s board do not meet PRIM s standards, and to support requirements that companies be diverse in terms of race, gender, use of minority-owned businesses as contractors, and use of women-owned businesses as contractors.
Massachusetts Pension Fund Returns 12.6% in 2020, Hits Record Asset Value
The state pension’s annualized returns beat the benchmark over the past one, three, five, and 10 years.
A strong second half rebound helped the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Trust (PRIT) end calendar year 2020 with a 12.6% return, beating its benchmark’s return of 10.8% and raising the fund to a record high of $86.9 billion in assets, according to Pension Reserves Investment Management (PRIM), which oversees the fund.
The fund also surpassed its benchmark over the past three, five, and 10 years, with annualized returns of 8.8%, 10.4%, and 8.9%, respectively, compared with 8.0%, 9.5%, and 7.6%, respectively for its benchmark over the same time periods.