Improving longevity with pension pots – with Maiyuresh Rajah, director of investments at Aviva

Maiyuresh Rajah, director of investments at Aviva, is this week’s guest on The Professional Investment Podcast.

He chose Pension Age’s story about TPR outlining its vision for megafunds and simplified pensions market by 2036 as his news story of the week.

Now the debate about pension schemes investing in private assets has been settled, providers are starting to put their private asset allocations in place.

Mai discusses the approach Aviva is taking to its private asset allocation – which using a multi-asset approach including third-party managers as well as Aviva Investors.

While pension providers are taking many different approaches to investing in private assets, this may diminish over time as the sector consolidates.

There is a concern it will become harder for pension providers to allocate capital to smaller managers as the assets under management become larger.

Mai suggested said smaller asset managers need to build strategic partnerships throughout the investment chain – both with larger private asset managers and with asset owners.

We unpacked how the contractual over-ride in the Pensions Scheme Act will allow insurers like Aviva to shift members of legacy schemes to better pension provision.

Mai also outlined how Aviva is building a retirement income for members so they can access drawdown earlier on and then ensure there is an annuity to provide an income for life.

Finally we talked about the private asset investment opportunities – such as allocating to healthcare companies – which Mai feels excited about.

There is a nice symmetry to improving later life and longevity by investing for retirement, he added.

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ABOUT THE GUEST:

Maiyuresh Rajah, Director of Investments at Aviva

Mai is responsible for all investment activity across Aviva’s Wealth business, which includes strategy, proposition development, investment governance and asset transitions across the workplace and retail pension businesses. He has over twenty years' experience in the pensions industry and has held senior roles in investment consulting, asset management, investment proposition and business development. Mai is passionate about delivering innovative investment propositions so that people can invest sustainably for their futures and meet their financial goals. He is also a Scheme Strategist for the Aviva Master Trust and works closely with the Trustees of the Master Trust.

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ABOUT THE HOST:

Charlotte Moore is an award-winning journalist and co-founder of Moore Squared Communications. She has spent almost two decades writing about how the UK’s largest investment organisations allocate their capital for a number of different specialist magazines including Professional Pensions, IPE and MandateWire. She started this podcast to increase understanding of how and why the UK’s £3 trillion pensions industry invests its members’ capital to provide the best possible retirement.

🔗 https://mooresquaredcommunications.com/the-professional-investment-podcast/

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Maiyuresh Rajah of Aviva

00:44 TPR’s vision for megafunds and pension reform by 2036

03:02 Why private assets are now central to DC pension investing

04:11 Aviva’s private market allocation strategy

06:18 Different approaches to investing in private markets

08:36 Why multi-manager private market strategies matter

11:21 Pension consolidation, megafunds and the risk of losing innovation

14:00 How smaller asset managers can stay relevant

17:35 Contractual override and improving legacy pension schemes

20:53 Building better retirement income solutions for pension members

24:50 Drawdown, annuities and income for life

27:24 Investing in healthcare, longevity and later life outcomes

30:00 How the Pension Schemes Act could improve retirement outcomes

31:42 Final thoughts and closing remarks

#Pensions

#PrivateMarkets

#RetirementIncome

#PensionReform

#Aviva