Top1000Funds.com

Asset Allocation

Wiseman’s wise words for investors

Ensuring a portfolio has enough liquidity to rebalance back to the long-term strategic asset allocation is the most critical preparation investors can do ahead of any crisis, according to Mark Wiseman, who said this current environment could be the "opportunity of a generation".

Amanda WhiteApril 3, 2020

Equities

A new route to minimising volatility

Defensive equity investment strategies are nothing new, but a key issue with many is that defensive does not necessarily mean low volatility. Scientific Beta looks at a strategy to target both goals, using robust low volatility controls to create a new defensive index for the volatility-averse investor.

Investor Profile

France’s FRR prepares to ramp up equity

The French SWF, FRR, is preparing to invest more in equities and illiquid assets as important reforms extend its time horizon. With the coronavirus crisis delaying the asset allocation decisions the fund is operating in an "intermediate context", slowly shifting out of bonds and into equities.

Private Equity

Retail investors eye private equity

The efforts to open private markets to retail investors will continue and appear to be progressing. The potential scale of capital is both a blessing and a curse to those who absorb it. The private equity market is already bifurcating, when the retail capital arrives, much of it will likely be deployed into the deep end of the market, with the ultimate result likely being public returns earned privately.

Risk

Coronavirus, climate change parallels

The lackadaisical response by the United States to the coronavirus crisis is indicative of broader risk management issues and comparable to the country’s anaemic response to climate change according to risk expert, Bob Litterman.

Sustainability

The power of collective investor action

It’s time for the responsible investment community to step up and play its role as long-term holders of capital and call corporations to account. It’s time for asset owners sitting at the apex of the investment chain to lead the financial sector through this crisis. We need to maintain a focus on long-term horizons and support collective action while trying to understand the real issues companies are facing from COVID-19 as well as the flow on effects to our individual portfolios.

Amanda WhiteMarch 30, 2020

Sustainability

Long-term approach needed more than ever

Chief investment officer of the world’s largest pension fund the $1.5 trillion GPIF, Hiro Mizuno, says large institutional investors must stay calm and maintain their long term investment course. He told Top1000funds.com that “long term investment is needed more than ever before”.

Amanda WhiteMarch 26, 2020

Private Equity

Revolutionising private market reporting

Nearly 10 years ago Lorelei Graye was part of the team at South Carolina that pushed for private market reporting transparency. That experience has motivated her to be a part of the solution in heading up the ADS Initiative to develop global data standards for private capital. We look at the journey to get there.

Amanda WhiteMarch 26, 2020

Top1000funds.com celebrates 1000 newsletters. This is what our readers had to say

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Hareb Masood Al-Darmaki

deputy chair of investment committee; advisor to the managing director, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority

“Congratulations to Amanda and the team on this milestone. Your timely and relevant articles consistently offer thoughtful insights about the industry, and I look forward to seeing what the next era of investing will bring.”

Rebecca Fender

head of the Future of Finance Initiative, CFA Institute

“Accurate, authoritative, informative and readable. Top1000funds.com is everything a specialised industry publication should be. Congratulations on your 1000th issue.”

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chief executive, PRI

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Barbara Zvan

former chief risk and strategy officer, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan

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CIO, Coal Pension Trustees (United Kingdom)

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executive director and chief investment officer, Minnesota State Board of Investment (United States)

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Frederic Samama

head of responsible investment, Amundi (France)

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TJB Research (United States)

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INVESTOR PROFILE

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Investor Profile

PFA navigates corona storm

In the six months Kasper Lorenzen has been CIO of the Danish fund, PFA, he has made moves in investment and decision-making that have resulted in the fund weathering the short-term coronavirus storm. He is however, wary of the long-term structural changes particularly to patterns of globalisation.

Sarah RundellMarch 18, 2020

Investor Profile

Oregon PE revamp shakes off GFC legacy

Sarah RundellMarch 2, 2020

Investor Profile

Minnesota to expand private markets

Sarah RundellFebruary 21, 2020

Investor Profile

ABP’s climate neutral plan for 2025

Amanda WhiteFebruary 17, 2020

Manager Relationships

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Manager Relationships

India’s NIIF gathers steam

India’s new sovereign development fund has raised a further £1.3 billion, on top of the government's $3 billion, to finance domestic infrastructure and growth. Key to its success is the unique investor-owned structure, similar to Australia's IFM Investors, and generous co-investment terms.

Sarah RundellFebruary 11, 2020

Manager Relationships

Insurance giants push for more impact

The experience of the collaboration between six large US insurers to successfully invest in affordable multi-family rental housing is a lesson for any institutional investor looking to impact investing.

Sarah RundellJanuary 12, 2020

Manager Relationships

KLP shows the active side of passive

Norway’s fund for local government employees and healthcare workers, KLP, abides by strict internal ESG principles. Sarah Rundell looks at how this translates to investments in emerging markets, its view of indexes and a concentration of manager relationships.

Sarah RundellNovember 27, 2019

Manager Relationships

Washington State’s secret sauce

A big contributor to the long-term top decile performance of the Washington State Investment Board has been its high allocation to private markets. But it is not just the high allocation that sets the fund apart from its peers, it’s also the nature of the relationships with its GPs. Amanda White speaks to retiring CIO Gary Bruebaker about the fund's secret sauce.

Amanda WhiteNovember 6, 2019

Sustainability

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Sustainability

Experts call for price on carbon, now

Last Thursday, March 12 the US Senate Democrats’ Special Committee on the Climate Crisis heard from industry experts, including Bob Litterman and Frederic Samama, on the economic risks of climate change. They all pushed for a price on carbon and for action, now.

Amanda WhiteMarch 19, 2020

Sustainability

Investing in the 2020s

Change is on the horizon, and where there is change, there is disruption, Mercer’s global strategic research director advises investors to be clear on timeframes, be prepared for business as unusual and position portfolios for climate change. The next decade is likely to prove more challenging — now is not the time to give up on diversification.

Nick WhiteMarch 5, 2020

Sustainability

Church of England’s transition index

Being passively invested shouldn’t mean being passive with regard to responsibilities says the Church of England Pension Board which has developed a new climate transition index with FTSE Russell, LSE and TPI that is the first to incorporate forward-looking climate data.

Adam MatthewsMarch 3, 2020

Sustainability

US public pension funds lag on climate

Only 16 of the 74 largest public pension plans in the US mention ESG or responsible investing in their public documents. Scott Kalb looks at why the US is so far behind.

Scott KalbFebruary 28, 2020

Equities

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Equities

Emerging markets vulnerable

Investors have pulled $83 billion from emerging markets since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, the largest capital outflow ever recorded, and the IMF and the World Bank are calling on G20 countries to show relief in dealing with their emerging market counterparts.

Amanda WhiteMarch 25, 2020

Equities

Time for a coordinated approach

The US Federal Reserve has fired its last round of ammunition, cutting interest rates to zero, in a move that continues to see it play from the monetary policy songbook. Some market commentators doubt whether it will be enough to prop up markets, raising the question of whether it is finally time for a more coordinated fiscal and monetary policy approach.

Amanda WhiteMarch 16, 2020

Equities

Former Trump adviser: recession coming

Kevin Hassett, the former economic adviser to US president Donald Trump, has warned that the chance of the global economy falling into a deep recession from the coronavirus outbreak was “pretty close to 100 per cent.”

Sarah JonesMarch 16, 2020

Equities

Coronavirus: market impacts

The coronavirus has triggered a market correction, bringing the S&P 500 off its all-time high. But as always an analysis of fundamentals, and the relationship between price and value, is essential for allocating capital. So could this be a time to buy?

Amanda WhiteMarch 5, 2020

FIDUCIARY INVESTORS SYMPOSIUM HARVARD

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FIS Harvard 2019

Modern slavery needs investor action

Asset owners and managers can help solve modern slavery and invest to stem the suffering of the 40.3 million workers in the world trapped in some form of labour abuse.

Sarah RundellDecember 11, 2019

FIS Harvard 2019

Impact investment continues to evolve

Impact investment and its combination of financial returns and social or environmental purpose is beginning to move from fringe to the financial mainstream in part because the long-held concept that investment should only maximise shareholder value is beginning to fade.

Sarah RundellDecember 5, 2019

FIS Harvard 2019

SDG 16: How to invest in peace

Investment in the 17 SDGs is growing, but SDG 16, and its call to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, gets the least investor attention. Yet the idea that investors can mobilise their capital to nurture peace is wholly possible.

Sarah RundellNovember 27, 2019

FIS Harvard 2019

Biomedicine’s long and risky road

Startlingly few institutional investors have allocations to life sciences. An informal poll of 85 asset owners from 20 countries responsible for a combined $9 trillion assets under management gathered at the Fiduciary Investors’ Symposium at Harvard University, found only a tiny handful active in the sector. Yet allocating to biotech makes an important contribution to society - investing in the sector can help change lives.

Sarah RundellNovember 20, 2019

FIS Harvard 2019

CalPERS hunts for third pillar PE teams

CalPERS is conducting searches for outside partners to run its new Pillar III private equity program focused on venture capital investment in life sciences, technology and healthcare.

Sarah RundellNovember 19, 2019

Asset Allocation

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Asset Allocation

CIOs ride the corona storm

Even for long term investors who pride themselves on the big picture and horizons stretching far into the future, the unprecedented change of recent weeks is hair-raising. Enough liquidity on hand to take advantage of buying opportunities once they arise and comfortably pay benefits is crucial. We look at the strategies of investors around the world in response to the market conditions.

Sarah RundellMarch 23, 2020

Asset Allocation

It’s a drag: why TPA is superior to SAA

A total portfolio approach overcomes the governance, benchmark and inertia drags inherent in strategic asset allocation, and can add returns of 50-100 basis points above SAA, according to global head of investment content at Willis Towers Watson, Roger Urwin.

Amanda WhiteMarch 12, 2020

Asset Allocation

The rise of the Sovereign Wealth Fund

In the past 20 years the number of SWFs has grown from 20 to more than 100 with their assets estimated to grow by $500 billion a year. So where do they invest and what impact are they having on the market? Sarah Rundell investigates.

Sarah RundellMarch 11, 2020

Asset Allocation

Challenges for Germany’s pension funds

Opportunities exist to improve portfolio efficiency among Germany’s pension funds, but it will create additional governance requirements. The conservatism of the portfolios is seemingly more difficult to move and reflects the higher degree of comfort required by German investors. Head of investments in Germany for Willis Towers Watson argues it is important to note that the short-term comfort this may provide may well come at a long-term cost.

Nigel CresswellFebruary 10, 2020