Amanda White

The SEK 204 billion ($28 billion) Second Swedish National Pension Fund/AP2 has appointed its fourth chief investment officer in four years, as the fund reports its best annual return since inception.

Global head of climate change investment research at DB Climate Change Advisors, Mark Fulton, has a contrary view to most observers, post-Copenhagen. He spoke to Amanda White about the climate change market and the asset allocation implications for investors.

The performance of the hedging portfolio and a 43 per cent allocation to interest-rate sensitive bonds in the investment beta portfolio of the DKK352 billion ($65 billion) ATP were the main contributors to the group increasing pension reserves by one third last year.

Portfolio specific asset allocation policy and portfolio security selection, timing and fees contribute equally to the variation of portfolio returns according to new research by Professor Roger Ibbotson of Yale School of Management, progressing earlier work by Brinson et al which attributed more than 90 per cent to asset allocation.