People’s Pension1, the largest commercial master trust pension scheme in the UK2, has today unveiled the latest phase of its evolution to becoming a world class asset owner with the appointment of Robeco3 to manage its growing emerging markets equities portfolio.
Awarding this £3.6bn mandate to Robeco represents an investment change from a passive approach to an active quantitative strategy for People’s Pension’s emerging markets portfolio and achieves greater alignment with the Scheme’s evolving Responsible Investment (RI) policy. The move to an active approach is designed to deliver higher risk adjusted returns to members.
This decision comes as a result of structural challenges observed in markets and indices in the region, and the strategy will allow People’s Pension, which manages more than £38 billion in assets in total, to set the necessary guardrails to ensure a long-term risk-controlled investment approach to generate good member outcomes.
Robeco was selected following an extensive research and due diligence process run by the Equity team4 at People’s Partnership, which provides People’s Pension to seven million savers – one fifth of the UK workforce.
During the nine-month long selection process, Robeco showed strength in all areas of the team’s balanced scorecard, which benchmarked all shortlisted managers, and looked for areas of excellence across seven key factors: performance, portfolio construction and execution, teams and resources, risk management, firmwide considerations, responsible investment, and partnership capabilities.
Robeco excelled in its commitment to investing in emerging markets and quantitative strategies, and its thoughtful, forward looking and risk aware approach to portfolio construction, approach to partnership and industry-leading RI integration stood out.
Robeco’s appointment comes nine months after People’s Pension announced two new partnerships with Amundi and Invesco, which now manage developed markets equities and fixed income portfolios respectively5.
Mark Condron, Chair of The People’s Pension Trustee Board, said:
“Today’s announcement is fantastic news for our seven million members as Robeco is committed to enabling us to deliver the very best returns. Forming strong partnerships – such as the one we are forging with Robeco – is central to our strategy. This development is consistent with our aim to deliver the very best returns to members with a best-in-class RI approach.”
Dan Mikulskis, Chief Investment Officer at People’s Partnership, provider of People’s Pension, said:
“The appointment of Robeco by the Trustee is the culmination of an exhaustive search for a partner that aligns to our core investment beliefs. Their cutting-edge approach will enable us to maximise the very best value from emerging markets. Our belief is that a selective active investment approach will lead to better returns for members. This is the latest step towards us achieving our goal of becoming a world class asset owner.”
Weili Zhou, Head of Quant Investing & Research, Deputy CIO, said:
“We are proud to have earned the trust of People’s Pension to manage their emerging markets equity portfolioand to have become one of their strategic partners. Their bespoke solution leverages our market-leading quantitative investment expertise, combined with our proprietary sustainable investment frameworks and innovations. We look forward to working closely with People’s Pension – a valued strategic partner – to deliver the best outcomes for their UK members.”
Notes to editors:
- People’s Pension is the largest commercial master trust in the UK based on members, serving seven million pension savers across the UK and managing more than £38bn in assets. It is provided by People’s Partnership, a business without shareholders, it reinvests its profits with the aim to help customers and achieve better financial outcomes for everyone.
- This assessment is determined by membership size. People’s Pension currently has more than seven million members, which, according to publicly available industry data, exceeds the membership of any other commercial master trust.
- About Robeco: Robeco is an international asset management firm specialising in active investment strategies and is a recognised market leader in both quantitative and sustainable investing. With over 30 years of experience in emerging markets, Robeco offers a broad range of solutions across both quantitative and fundamental approaches. Sustainability is deeply embedded in Robeco’s investment decision-making. Its 52-person Sustainable Investing (SI) Centre of Expertise supports clients in achieving their financial and sustainability goals through tailored strategies and long-term capital growth.
Robeco’s client-centric approach and commitment to partnerships are central to its success. The firm works closely with clients to provide investment solutions that align with their objectives, regulatory frameworks and ESG priorities. Robeco’s collaborative model ensures that clients benefit from deep research insights, bespoke strategies, and transparent engagement throughout the investment process. - Lara Rodriguez and Lindsay Ireland spearheaded the work on equities, with Daniel Coombes and Cassie Traeger leading the responsible investment part of the manager selection process.
- The announcement about People’s Pension’s appointment of Amundi and Invesco was made in February here.