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.
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.
Two of the United Kingdom’s largest pension funds have launched a guide to cyber risk for asset owners highlighting key cyber dangers asset owners should watch, and rules of engagement with investee companies and reticent asset managers.
Demographic trends will have a profound impact on pension funds’ investment returns, argued Patrick Zweifel, chief economist at Pictet Asset Management speaking at the Fiduciary Investors’ Symposium at Harvard University. He said ageing populations mean retirement ages need to rise and will see pension funds increase risk to stretch for returns.
Look no further than the economic travails of Italy and Japan to see the perils of Modern Monetary Theory, MMT, said Sonal Desai, CIO, fixed income at Franklin Templeton. Speaking at the Fiduciary Investors’ Symposium at Harvard University, she countered the arguments of Stephanie Kelton, a leading MMT scholar at Stony Brook University and senior economic advisor to presidential candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders who espoused the virtues of MMT in a previous session MMT: A solution to broken policy?
Bert Feuss, senior vice president, investments at the $13.5 billion Silicon Valley Community Foundation, SVCF, explains why diversity is so important, the steps the impact investor has taken to address the institutionalised lack of diversity, and the impact on performance.
Top1000funds.com is the market leading news and analysis site for the world’s largest institutional investors. It focuses on leading the global investment industry to continuous improvement through case studies of best practice in governance and decision making, portfolio construction and efficient portfolio management, fees and costs, and sustainable investing.
The publication pushes the industry to question whether status quo processes and behaviours to tackle risks and opportunities will be sufficient in the future, and actively campaigns for diversity, sustainability, transparency, innovation and better alignment of fees in the investment industry.
Top1000funds.com is read by investment professionals in more than 40 countries.
FIS Harvard 2019