Japan names former MUFG economist to lead huge pension fund
Japan named Kazuto Uchida, a former Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group economist, as the head of the Government Pension Investment Fund.
Bond market veteran Uchida will take over from current President Masataka Miyazono on April 1 for a five-year term to manage one of the world's largest pension funds with total assets of ¥260 trillion ($1.72 trillion), the health ministry said on Tuesday. Uchida is a graduate of Keio University.
The appointment comes as investors speculate whether the giant fund may change its current portfolio, which allocates a quarter of funds evenly to four categories of assets — domestic stocks, foreign stocks, domestic bonds and foreign bonds.
GPIF will maintain the portfolio composition for five more years from fiscal 2025, which starts in April, the Nikkei reported earlier this month.
In its previous review in 2020, the fund increased the allocation to foreign bonds and cut domestic bonds amid the Bank of Japan's aggressive monetary easing.
The GPIF was set up in 2006 to manage assets for the Japanese public pension system. It's been led by former officials from the country's main agricultural lender Norinchukin Bank for the past two terms.
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