Key Takeaways
- • Aware Super of Australia won the communication and engagement award at the 2026 P&I WorldPensionSummit Excellence & Innovation Awards for its Retirement Manager digital advice platform, which has generated more than 4,700 digital statements of advice.
- • Malaysia's Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (KWAP) won the investments award for its RM6 billion ($1.42 billion) KWAP Accelerator Fund, which targets a shortage of long-term institutional capital for high-growth Malaysian companies.
- • Slovakia's Finax won the pension fund design and reform award for Finax PEPP, described as the European Union's first operational pan-European personal pension product.
- • Judges' Choice awards went to Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, Artea Asset Management, and Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers, with runner-up honors to OMERS and the State Social Protection Fund of Azerbaijan.
Summary
Pensions & Investments recognized pension and retirement initiatives from around the world in its WorldPensionSummit 2026 Excellence & Innovation Awards. The awards were presented on Nov. 5 during the 17th annual P&I WorldPensionSummit, held Nov. 3-5 at the Louwman Museum in The Hague, Netherlands. Winners were selected by a panel of global retirement industry leaders serving on the WorldPensionSummit advisory board. The awards were presented by P&I editor-in-chief Frederick Gabriel and Sanya Goffe, a partner at Hart Muirhead Fatta and president of the Pension Industry Association of Jamaica.
The Excellence & Innovation Awards covered three categories: communication and engagement, investments, and pension fund design and reform. Judges' Choice awards were also given to initiatives judged deserving for their unique characteristics or circumstances.
In communication and engagement, Aware Super won for Retirement Manager, a digital advice platform launched in November 2025. The platform provides regulated, personalized retirement advice at the cost of fund membership, addressing limited access to affordable advice for Australian retirees. Since launch, it has generated more than 4,700 digital statements of advice, with 96% of users selecting personalized retirement income goals. Members using the tool access an average of $18,000 more annually in retirement income, according to the publication. The platform includes an Income Confidence Score that converts retirement-risk modeling into a real-time measure. The runner-up was the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System for its Empowering Women Members Through Leave Purchase Modernization initiative, and the Judges' Choice award went to Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan for Join HOOPP.
In investments, KWAP won for its KWAP Accelerator Fund, established in 2024 with RM6 billion ($1.42 billion). Known as dana pemacu, the fund aims to address a shortage of long-term institutional capital for high-growth companies in sectors including energy transition, healthcare and digital infrastructure. It uses a co-general partner model pairing global investment firms with local partners, and its implementation involved expanding KWAP's private-market capabilities and developing sharia-compliant investment structures. The runner-up was the State Social Protection Fund of Azerbaijan, and the Judges' Choice award went to Artea Asset Management of Lithuania for its work managing a 40% second-pillar redemption shock.
In pension fund design and reform, Finax received the award for Finax PEPP, which allows individuals to keep a single pension account while living and working across EU member states. The product combines low-cost, globally diversified ETF portfolios with automated rebalancing and lifecycle risk management, and can be offered by employers as a cross-border retirement benefit. The runner-up was the State Social Protection Fund of Azerbaijan, and the Judges' Choice award went to Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers of Nigeria for its Personalized Funding Channel Using Virtual Static Accounts.
The 2026 summit focused on preparing pension systems for a less predictable world, with sessions covering investment strategy, geopolitical risk, demographic pressures, technological innovation and retirement security.
The Excellence & Innovation Awards covered three categories: communication and engagement, investments, and pension fund design and reform. Judges' Choice awards were also given to initiatives judged deserving for their unique characteristics or circumstances.
In communication and engagement, Aware Super won for Retirement Manager, a digital advice platform launched in November 2025. The platform provides regulated, personalized retirement advice at the cost of fund membership, addressing limited access to affordable advice for Australian retirees. Since launch, it has generated more than 4,700 digital statements of advice, with 96% of users selecting personalized retirement income goals. Members using the tool access an average of $18,000 more annually in retirement income, according to the publication. The platform includes an Income Confidence Score that converts retirement-risk modeling into a real-time measure. The runner-up was the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System for its Empowering Women Members Through Leave Purchase Modernization initiative, and the Judges' Choice award went to Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan for Join HOOPP.
In investments, KWAP won for its KWAP Accelerator Fund, established in 2024 with RM6 billion ($1.42 billion). Known as dana pemacu, the fund aims to address a shortage of long-term institutional capital for high-growth companies in sectors including energy transition, healthcare and digital infrastructure. It uses a co-general partner model pairing global investment firms with local partners, and its implementation involved expanding KWAP's private-market capabilities and developing sharia-compliant investment structures. The runner-up was the State Social Protection Fund of Azerbaijan, and the Judges' Choice award went to Artea Asset Management of Lithuania for its work managing a 40% second-pillar redemption shock.
In pension fund design and reform, Finax received the award for Finax PEPP, which allows individuals to keep a single pension account while living and working across EU member states. The product combines low-cost, globally diversified ETF portfolios with automated rebalancing and lifecycle risk management, and can be offered by employers as a cross-border retirement benefit. The runner-up was the State Social Protection Fund of Azerbaijan, and the Judges' Choice award went to Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers of Nigeria for its Personalized Funding Channel Using Virtual Static Accounts.
The 2026 summit focused on preparing pension systems for a less predictable world, with sessions covering investment strategy, geopolitical risk, demographic pressures, technological innovation and retirement security.
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