The Principles for Responsible Investment will reduce signatories’ responsibilities in their annual mandatory reporting from 240 questions to just 40 next year. The outgoing PRI chief David Atkin explains the move and why asset owners have a big role in stabilising the discussion around responsible investment.
In a rare interview, Jayne Atkinson, chief investment officer of the £100 billion ($132 billion) UK pool LGPS Central, reveals the plan to scale up its offering after almost doubling its assets under management, including expanding alternatives to new allocations in hedge funds, diversified growth funds and insurance-linked securities.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund is now the world’s largest asset owner according to the Thinking Ahead Institute’s annual Asset Owner 100 report, which also outlines the similarities and challenges among top capital allocators globally.
The Swedish government’s plans to streamline the country’s pension system and merge the $8 billion buffer fund AP6 with its larger and more diversified sibling, the $48 billion AP2, have hit a bump in the road. Major points of contention include AP6’s large private equity exposures and staff integration.
Merger mania continues to grip Iceland’s pension sector, but economies of scale and greater efficiency don’t solve the problem of the size of an industry now larger than the country’s banking system and insurance sector combined, and more than sufficient to buy all listed investments.
CalPERS’ Peter Cashion tells Top1000funds.com how the pension fund’s strategy to allocate to climate mitigation, transition and adaptation strategies is allowing it to access an untapped corner of the US market where many investors have retreated because of the policy environment.
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