US Pension Fund Investing: Macro Matters

"Who would have thought LDI would be in the popular press in my whole career?" says David Eichhorn, CEO of NISA Investment Advisors on this edition of the FICC Focus Podcast. In this Macro Matters edition of the FICC Focus Podcast, Eichhorn joins BI Chief US Interest Rate Strategist Ira Jersey to discuss Liability Driven Investments (LDI), particularly US Defined Benefit pension plan, which he helps manage. Eichhorn discusses how LDI investments differ from other types of plans, how his firm manages risk, and his view for the future of the pension industry. During a discussion about if US pensions could contribute to a market move similar to what occurred in the UK in the recent past, Eichhorn notes that US plans take much less interest risk and manager derivative collateral much differently than their cousins across the pond. The show's Fun Fed Fact segment takes a bit of a turn when BI Interest Rate Strategist Angelo Manolatos and Jersey discuss the Treasury Refunding dealer questions about potential Treasury buybacks and TIPS issuance.