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How we invest
Our investment mandate is to earn sufficient long-term returns, at an appropriate level of risk, to deliver secure, stable pension income to our members today and tomorrow.
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A total fund approach
UPP takes a total fund approach that focuses on maintaining a strong funded status and meeting members’ pension needs for decades to come. Together, our total fund investment strategy and developing asset class sub-strategies form a unified and purpose-driven investment program aligned to our:
Long-term investment beliefs and objectives (read our investment beliefs)
Liabilities and risk profile
Opportunities to leverage our structure and scale
Responsible investing ambitions and strength
Our approach combines focused investment strategies at the asset class level with sophisticated asset allocation, risk, liquidity, and ESG management at the total fund level.
Total fund lenses
Focused risk management
Disciplined risk management is everyone’s responsibility at UPP.
Our Investment teams work together to ensure we understand, manage, and optimize
risks in everything we do, and make informed decisions accordingly.
Serving as a key risk partner, our Portfolio Construction and Investment Risk team plays a dual role as the analytic and planning engine for top-down asset mix construction and investment risk measurement. The team evaluates many dimensions of risk, across various time horizons, to gain deeper insight into the material risk exposures in our portfolio and those of our investment managers.
Investment risk is governed through a structured framework with clear policies and procedures to ensure that investment decisions are risk-informed and yield the necessary return on risk taken.
A core sustainability lens
UPP holds the evidence-based view that environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors, such as climate change, will fundamentally influence the long-term sustainability of financial markets.
We account for these factors at every stage of the investment process to better assess and create value, identify differentiated opportunities, and drive stronger long-term financial performance. This includes working with our external investment partners and industry peers to continuously improve performance in these areas and reinforce the health of the capital markets on which our fund relies.
Investment agility
Being able to dynamically change our exposures in a fast-moving market is an important part of our strategy. Proactive liquidity planning helps us maintain our desired asset mix and meet our liability obligations while remaining a reliable source for markets when liquidity is scarce.
Our Total Fund and Treasury team carefully manages liquidity and funding across the portfolio, ensuring we have sufficient capital to pay pensions and reserves in place to withstand market disruptions and take advantage of investment opportunities that align with our long-term strategy, including those presented by changing investment markets and the net-zero transition. This includes strategic employment of leverage, which, used prudently, is a powerful tool for optimizing risk-adjusted returns relative to the Plan’s pension liabilities.
“In the Treasury department, it’s our responsibility to ensure every member is covered in different market scenarios, no matter what happens. We’re dedicated to ensuring our investments meet our targets and deliver guaranteed income for our members.”
Yeffie Yang
Director of Total Fund Management and Treasury
Leveraging partnership
UPP’s Investment team leverages partnerships with external investment managers and co-investors to implement our public and private market strategies. Collectively, these partners play an essential role in the success of our investment strategy and in bringing our net-zero commitment to bear—alignment in vision and values is imperative.
Disciplined due diligence and dialogue help us understand our partners’ (and prospective partners’) investment commitments, capabilities, and goals and express our objectives in return. We seek partners who are interested in exchanging strategic insights and best practices, creating a mutually beneficial relationship.
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