The skirmish between the New York City Comptroller and BlackRock over climate alignment of the city’s public pension funds – a fight worth a $42 billion mandate to BlackRock – highlights the complexity and impracticality of aligning climate expectations, reporting requirements and business imperatives.
The $84 billion Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation is weighing the benefits and risks of increasing its less than 1 per cent allocation to cryptocurrency following positive returns for the sovereign wealth fund. Despite the current policy tailwinds, the investor is wary about the asset class's liquidity and value drivers.
As CalPERS becomes the first US pension fund to adopt a total portfolio approach, Ben Cotton, CIO of $80 billion Pennsylvania PSERS suggests TPA is just another acronym for something investors should already be doing: making decisions for what is best for the whole portfolio.
Ronald Wuijster, chief executive of APG Asset Management, argues that fragmented capital markets and risk aversion are crimping investment opportunities in Europe. But he still sees attractive deals in the quantum and biotechnology sectors.
Sharply declining populations in Europe, as well as countries like South Korea and Japan, have dramatic implications for economic growth and investment opportunities. Investors at FIS Oxford were warned that as depopulation occurs in certain areas, highly skilled workers will leave, creating a loss of services and fuelling political instability.
As European countries increase defence spending, allocators are weighing up the risk and opportunity of allocating more to the sector. For some, investing in defence sits relatively comfortably with stakeholders but for others, investing "in things that kill people" remains a highly controversial conversation.
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