The world’s largest pension fund Government Pension Investment Fund GPIF (of Japan) suffered huge losses.
The massive paper losses suffered in the April to June quarter of 2016 almost matched the $50 billion losses it recorded in the 2015-16 financial year — its worst year since the global financial crisis.
GIPF has blamed a $52 billion quarterly investment loss on the UK’s surprise Brexit vote in June to leave the European Union.
The most recent quarterly slump, which primarily arose from turmoil in domestic and international stock markets, effectively wipes out all the gains that the GPIF has made since it revised its investment strategy in October 2014 to place a heavier weighting on equities.
GPIF now holds about 21 per cent of its investments in domestic equities, the same proportion in foreign equities, and 39 per cent in domestic bonds.