Tokyo to extend term of public pension fund head

Tokyo

TAKAHIRO Mitani will remain head of Japan's trillion-dollar public pension fund, officials said on Saturday, as the government wrestles with how to govern the mammoth fund. Health and Welfare Minister Yasuhisa Shiozaki is set to name Mr Mitani, 66, to another term as chairman of the Government Pension Investment Fund, starting April 1, three government officials told Reuters.

Global investors have been closely watching who would head GPIF, the world's biggest pension fund, when Mr Mitani's term expired. Its 137 trillion yen (S$1.57 trillion) in assets, bigger than Mexico's annual economic output, make it an enormous market presence and a bellwether for other big Japanese institutional investors.