Top1000Funds.com

articleSustainability Digital 2020

Sustainability lacks global solidarity

Princeton University Professor of International Affairs, Stephen Kotkin explains why large global investors and multinationals can lead on sustainability but national governments fail.

Sarah RundellSeptember 21, 2020

articleSustainability Digital 2020

CEOs: Don’t ignore sustainability

Unilever’s former CEO Paul Polman advises CEOs pushing sustainability to treat investors and the financial markets as allies – and ignore sustainability at their peril. "You will be voted out", he warns.

Sustainability

Taxonomies a revolutionary shift in ESG

The sustainability taxonomies are a generational shift in thinking about sustainability issues, according to the PRI which has published the first ever set of case studies on the use of the EU taxonomy.

articleSustainability Digital 2020

How to integrate the SDGs

Integrating the SDGs involves analysing investee companies' core business, the products and services they sell, and mapping that to the SDGs. Two investors, APG and Schroders, outline the indepth process.

articleSustainability Digital 2020

Coca-Cola and Robeco talk engagement

In an intimate case study this session at the Sustainability conference profiles the relationship between Robeco and CocaCola and how investor engagement has helped prioritise sustainability issues and drive long-term growth through a focus on the circular economy.

articleSustainability Digital 2020

Nordhaus calls for carbon tax

International negotiations like the Paris Agreement no longer work. The world needs a new framework supporting a carbon tax with both carrots and sticks to encourage participation, says William Nordhaus, Sterling Professor of Economics, Yale University and 2018 Nobel Prize winner in Economics.

Sarah RundellSeptember 17, 2020

articleSustainability Digital 2020

Bridgewater’s three dimensional approach

In a rare insight into the portfolio construction process at Bridgewater, the head of investment research, Karen Karniol-Tambour discusses how to shift from only looking at risk and return to adopting a three-dimensional model that incorporates impact.

Sarah RundellSeptember 16, 2020

articleImpact

Ford Foundation’s impact strategy

The Ford Foundation outlines its ability to achieve impact and returns and announces plans to invest for impact in public markets in the next 18 months. Elsewhere, renown impact investor Pictet Asset Management explains how impact investment is becoming more mainstream.

Sarah RundellSeptember 15, 2020

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

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“Top1000funds.com is a breath of fresh air in terms circulating stories that encompass new ideas and original thinking to keep us all abreast of the ideas that matters to us in the asset management industry in general and asset allocation spheres. I thank you for that.”

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.”

Fiona Reynolds

chief executive, PRI

“Top1000funds is the pre-eminent source for news and analysis on global issues of consequence to long-term investors. The focus is spot on. It is my go-to reference for what’s happening in our industry and what’s to come.”

Barbara Zvan

former chief risk and strategy officer, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan

“Top1000funds.com is one of the best on-line sources for learning what my peers around the world are thinking and doing to allocate capital. It’s essential reading!”

Mark Walker

CIO, Coal Pension Trustees (United Kingdom)

“I find Top1000funds.com to be a useful, must-read source of information regarding developments within the institutional investment industry. Its global reach provides a variety of perspectives which aids the practitioner to navigate the challenges faced when managing a portfolio.”

Mansco Perry

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

“The Top1000funds.com newsletter is an excellent read for CIOs. From my perspective, the newsletter provides important insights on how our global peers are innovating and changing the way they go about investing in order to drive better outcomes for stakeholders.”

Kristian Fok

chief investment officer, Cbus (Australia)

“Top1000funds.com always provides a thorough analysis of the best practices in the investment industry around the planet. This is a unique way to have such a perspective and there is always some insights we can all benefit from. The publication deserves a lot of credit for such work.”

Frederic Samama

head of responsible investment, Amundi (France)

“Top1000funds.com consistently provides thorough, reliable and insightful information about how global assets owners are navigating an increasingly complex investment landscape.”

Janine Guillot

chief executive, SASB (United States)

“Top1000funds.com provides a great mix of stories that are of interest to asset owners and those who work with them, covering both investment topics and organisational ones. While aimed at “the world’s largest institutional investors,” the articles are relevant to all kinds of asset owners, as well as professionals at other investment organisations.”

Tom Brakke

TJB Research (United States)

“The Top1000funds.com newsletter has become a very powerful source of information for the community of asset owners around the world. It is relevant and deep. I’ve known Amanda White for more than a decade now, she probably has the deepest understanding of the topics that are of interest to asset owners in the field globally.”

Jaap van Dam

principal director investment strategy, PGGM; and author of Achieving Investment Excellence (The Netherlands)

“I really enjoy reading Top1000funds.com articles for my reference in investment. I would describe it as a kind of lighthouse when I was lost in turbulent market situation.”

Dong Hun Jang

CIO, POBA (Korea)

“Top1000funds.com produces high quality and thoughtful journalism that frequently aids my thinking”

Tim Hodgson

co-head, Thinking Ahead Group

INVESTOR PROFILE

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ArticleClimate

NY Common’s sustainability integration

Andrew Siwo is the first director of sustainable investments and climate solutions at the $200 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund (CRF). Here he talks about the fund’s approach to ESG integration.

Amanda WhiteAugust 20, 2020

Investor Profile

IMCO uses nimbleness to advantage

Amanda WhiteAugust 17, 2020

Investor Profile

AP4’s future: nimble and low cost

Amanda WhiteAugust 11, 2020

Investor Profile

Volatility top of mind at NYCERS

Amanda WhiteJuly 29, 2020

Manager Relationships

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ArticlePortfolio construction

Harvard endowment goes net zero by 2050

The Harvard endowment is about half way through its transition to external investment management and will work with its service providers to implement the university’s new directive, to position the portfolio in line with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Amanda WhiteMay 7, 2020

Manager Relationships

Oregon PE revamp shakes off GFC legacy

Oregon Investment Council has committed to investing $3 billion a year in private equity, with the smooth pacing strategy part a response to the fund’s overweight position to poor performing vintages as a result of its allocations before and after the GFC. The investor is also focusing on manager relationships with a focus on accessing new relationships and upsizing the best existing ones; and a new strategy that sees no provider in charge of more than 5 per cent of the portfolio.

Sarah RundellMarch 2, 2020

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

Sustainability

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Sustainability

Collaboration needed in ESG movement

A cohort of ESG risks like climate change, lost biodiversity and poor working conditions have pushed sustainability centre stage, a roundtable of industry-wide experts who connected via video conference recently discussed.

Sarah RundellSeptember 8, 2020

ArticleA new future

Ray Dalio on fixing capitalism

A conversation with Ray Dalio, co-chair and co-CIO of Bridgewater Associates, to air at the upcoming Sustainability Conference looks at how capitalism has lost its way, and the possible solutions for getting it back on track.

Colin TateSeptember 6, 2020

Sustainability

Engagement and divestment: a mighty team

The empirical results of academic studies indicate that both engagement and divestment approaches can be effective in achieving desired ESG outcomes. So, far from being mutually exclusive, both engagement and divestment are mutually reinforcing.

Erik ChristiansenSeptember 1, 2020

Sustainability

Asset owners adapt and respond to COVID

The Responsible Asset Allocator Initiative finds that 25 leading public pension and sovereign wealth funds, with assets of $6 trillion, are investing tens of billions of dollars in COVID-19 solutions and in funds to support stricken companies. Here they look at what the leading asset allocators around the world are doing to respond to the pandemic.

Amanda WhiteAugust 26, 2020

Equities

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Equities

Has your value definition just expired?

Is book-to-price still a suitable definition of the value factor? Researchers at Scientific Beta explore the arguments for different definitions including how to account for intangible capital.

Felix Goltz and Ben LuytenAugust 4, 2020

Equities

Markets remain fragile

A risk management strategy that measures resilience and fragility of markets, protected portfolios from the wild February downswing in equity markets, and predicts more fragility to come.

Amanda WhiteMay 5, 2020

Equities

The importance of governance in a crisis

From December to mid-March of this year New Zealand Super lost 20 per cent of its assets. It’s the second time in less than 18 months the fund has experienced a significant drop in assets but in an example of how good governance and process can allow for counter cyclical behaviour the fund is now buying equities.

Amanda WhiteApril 29, 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.

Daniel Aguet, Noël Amenc and Felix GoltzApril 3, 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

ArticleImpact

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