"Given widespread economic and trading restrictions, INPRS has concluded that it is no longer prudent to invest in Russian securities. INPRS will continue collaborating with its investment managers to divest any remaining Russian-related investments as soon as it is prudently possible," according to the statement.
During a March 28 board meeting, trustees of the $1.2 billion Austin (Texas) Firefighters Relief and Retirement Fund received an update on the defined benefit plan's current investments in Russian securities from consultant Meketa Investment Group, said Anumeha Kumar, the fund's administrator, in an email.
"We had very little exposure begin with — 25 basis points as of Dec. 31 — in three managers," she said.
One manager has completely sold its positions and the two other firms are in the process of selling off," Ms. Kumar said, noting "we now have 1 basis point of current exposure left which should go down to zero soon."
The $3.5 billion City of Austin (Texas) Employees' Retirement System had exposure to a "very small amount of Russian securities in commingled funds with both passive and active managers," said Mehrin Rahman, the system's spokeswoman, in an email.
The passive managers are in the process of removing their exposures in line with the removal of Russian securities from the indexes they track, while active managers are "looking to reduce exposure where prudent," Ms. Rahman said.
The $1 billion Austin (Texas) Police Retirement System has a 1.27% exposure to Russian securities in a collective trust and a 0.97% exposure in a mutual fund, said Pattie Featherston, the system's executive director, in an email.
The defined benefit plan's total exposure to Russian positions in the two funds is about 0.1% of plan assets, she said.
The $36 billion Texas Municipal Retirement System, Austin, began reducing Russian exposure in the fourth quarter of 2021, said Michelle Mellon-Merch, the system's spokeswoman, in an email.
The system's Russian exposure was less than $4 million in mid-March.
Ms. Mellon-Merch did not respond to a request for information about TMRS' exposure to Russian securities prior to divestment.
The $66 billion Illinois Teachers' Retirement System, Springfield, has "communicated our concerns about the conflict (in Ukraine) and its worldwide effects to our money managers. We have asked that they appropriately evaluate the risks the conflict may have on securities held within our accounts," said David Urbanek, the system's spokesman, in an email.
The defined benefit plan has not held a board of trustees meeting since the Russia-Ukraine conflict began "where the issue could have been discussed so there is no action at this time by the system," he said.
Mr. Urbanek said the system "anticipates action by the (Illinois) General Assembly which would set in motion the traditional Illinois divestment process for state pension systems."
State Rep. James Durkin introduced legislation in early March that would require TRS and the four other state pension funds to divest from any holdings in Russian companies.
Mr. Urbanek said "as far as Russia goes, we have not heard of any updates about what's going on in the General Assembly" with regard to Mr. Durkin's bill.
