NEWS
Santiago Principles turn 10 years old
A decade ago, the Santiago Principles were established, to shape governance of state-owned investors. Voluntary participation and flexibility have been the secret to the guidelines’ longevity.
PRI In Person 2018
Reaching SDGs’ ‘low-hanging fruit’
Infrastructure, capital markets and China A-shares all present accessible opportunities for responsible investment, if asset owners can navigate a catch or two along the way.
PRI In Person 2018
Infrastructure assets build in ESG
As governments welcome pension fund investment in infrastructure, the asset class facilitates the practical integration of the SDGs and ESG, Cbus Super CIO Kristian Fok told delegates.
PRI In Person 2018
Good ESG data requires a framework
Initiatives such as the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board are vital for providing the consistent, regular, high-quality disclosure on the SDGs that investors need, a panel told delegates.
Asset Classes
Utah to look for PE managers
The $37 billion Utah Retirement Systems (URS) will allocate to private equity managers directly, rather than through funds-of-funds, for the first time since it began investing in the asset class 35 years ago.
PRI In Person 2018
Unilever chief calls for new capitalism
Long-time Unilever chief executive Paul Polman told delegates the world’s companies and executives needed to adopt a long-term focus and many other changes to create an inclusive economic system.
PRI In Person 2018
An end to deforestation is critical
An expert panel argues that the objectives of the Paris Agreement can’t be achieved without stopping deforestation and looks to technology for some ways to make it happen.
PRI In Person 2018
How to convince the ESG sceptics
Trying to find ways to get colleagues to embrace responsible investment strategies can be frustrating but it becomes easier when the business case includes the bottom line.
PRI In Person 2018
ESG is strategy at PE firm TPG
A social impact fund and innovative engagement with investee companies make ESG an integrated part of the culture at private equity firm TPG, co-chief executive Jon Winkelried said in an interview.
Sustainability
PRI focused on commitment to task
As the 2018 PRI in Person conference begins, the prospect of recovering fossil fuel prices adds urgency to the organisation’s efforts to expand – and to keep current members on task.
Sustainability
PRI rallies boards on data security
A group of more than 50 investors has formed to help raise awareness and standards for data protection. As related risks become a primary concern for directors, PRI is co-ordinating efforts.
Sustainability
Adventist Health’s risk appetite grows
The $6 billion Adventist Health System is considering more risk as it grows and is seeking to gain from efficient processes. The goal remains maximum effectiveness in provision of healthcare.
Sustainability
OPTrust takes climate-change action
The $15 billion Canadian pension plan considers active engagement more effective than divestment and market forces more immediate than regulation, as it works towards a low-carbon economy.
Investor Profile
Hostplus wins with illiquid assets
The $25 billion Australian retirement fund for hospitality workers is able to invest in illiquid assets such as infrastructure due to its young membership. The approach has led to top-ranked returns.
Asset Classes
Private capital opportunities grow
It’s been said the “public market is quickly becoming a holding pen for massive sleepy corporations”. This has investors taking more late-stage stakes in private companies as perceived risks ebb.
Asset Classes
Future Fund tops up PE, risk
Australia's $107 billion sovereign wealth fund added risk based on near-term outlooks and boosted its holdings in private equity, during a year in which it handily beat one-year and 10-year aims.
Asset Classes
PE outperformance doesn’t add up
Thanks to recent history, flawed methodology and ill-chosen indices, most say PE consistently outdoes public equity. But the right data tells a different story, Oxford academics write.
Asset Classes
Alternative PE vehicles underperform
Alternative private equity vehicles underperform the associated main fund, new research from Harvard's Josh Lerner and MIT's Antoinette Schoar has shown for the first time - but skilled limited partners flip the script.
Asset Allocation
CalPERS manages outsized equity risk
The $335 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System warned this week that it is greatly exposed to a downturn in global equity markets, as it prepares to monitor active risk closely.
Asset Allocation
HOOPP ponders re-allocating risk
Canada's Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan is considering adding to its celebrated strategy with moves into reinsurance and infrastructure, based on forecasts of rapid growth in its assets.
Asset Allocation
TelstraSuper: allocation authority
Graeme Miller, CIO at the A$21 billion TelstraSuper fund, has beefed up the staff and processes committed to asset allocation and adopted an empowering vision of world-class funds management.
Asset Allocation
HSBC pension re-allocates to de-risk
"There are no prizes for taking on more risk than you need," said CIO Mark Thompson, after the fully funded UK scheme sold 60 per cent of its equities and targeted long-dated assets.
Strategy
Australia’s pension funds cricitised
As the fifth round of Australia’s financial services royal commission came to a close, counsel assisting criticised many retirement savings funds for their retention strategies, conflicts of interest and other practices deemed not in members’ best interests.
Strategy
Fight ‘halo effect’ and other biases
The halo effect - a belief that people who are good at one thing excel at everything - is just one example of the behavioural biases humans must manage and overcome to be good investors.
Strategy
Railpen: good partners add skills
When the $37 billion pension fund embarked on a joint venture with the Alaska Permanent Fund and Kuwait's Public Institution for Social Security, it learned the value of complementary partnership
Strategy
A more realistic look at risk
The University of California’s Rick Bookstaber argues that risk management should move from static equations to more realistic models in which outcomes depend on multiple agents.