The SPTopix 150 equity index in Japan has notched its first pension fund to benchmark against it.
Last year Standard Poor's, the creator of the Topix 150, was approached by Daiwa Bank, which manages pension assets. Daiwa said it had a corporate pension client that had demanded Daiwa design a portfolio benchmarked against the new index. Daiwa has not revealed the name of its client, but according to David Collins, vice president of index services at SP in Tokyo, It is said to be one of Japan's most innovative plan sponsors, one that does its own research.
This mystery client realized that over a 10-year period, the Topix 150 consistently outperformed the...
