RI's pension plan outperforms Harvard University's endowment and the California Public Employees' fund

Providence, RI 7/22/2009 - Rhode Island General Treasurer Frank T. Caprio announced on Wednesday that the State's pension plan is outperforming some of the nation's largest and well-followed funds.

"Rhode Island's pension fund has outperformed both the largest pension fund in the nation, the California public employees' retirement system fund (CalPERS) and largest university endowment in the country (Harvard), while reducing the fund's expenses by more than $12 million. These are extremely difficult economic times, and these savings are crucial to helping our State," said Treasurer Caprio.

While being smallest State in the Union, Rhode Island's fund ranks in the top 150 largest public funds due to the fund encompassing the State's teacher and state employee pension assets, as well as those of most of the State's thirty-nine cities and towns. Falling under the guidance of the State's Treasurer, Frank Caprio, the fund is capable of making adjustments quickly, providing the small State with the advantage of agility over its larger peers.

"Through a top to bottom review, we have focused on asset-allocation, minimizing risk and reducing expenses," said Treasurer Caprio. "We have liquidity and flexibility in our plan, which has benefitted us during the past year," said Caprio.

Rhode Island was also a leader in early 2007, when Caprio directed the sale of $1 billion of subprime mortgage backed securities, allowing Rhode Island to be the first State to confirm its fund had no exposure to subprime assets long before the collapse of the market in the fall of '07.

Rhode Island's $6.1 billion pension fund is down 19.18% over the past year (July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009); Harvard's endowment is down an estimated 24 to 30% over the same time period, while CalPERS is down almost 24%, and the S & P 500 was down 26.22%.

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