ESG here to stay

Anyone who thought ESG was a passing fad can think again. The announcement this week that Mercer, which has led the consulting industry on standalone ESG ratings, will now integrate those factors across its ratings process has cemented ESG as an important investment risk and return consideration. The consultant rates more than 20,000 investment strategies … Read more

OECD investigates
market fragility

In this fourth part of an OECD working paper, researchers look at the potential that portfolio rebalancing by financial investors can contribute to spreading financial turmoil in a major market event such as the global financial crisis or ensuing sovereign debt crisis in Europe. In International Capital Mobility and Financial Fragility – Part 4: Which Structural … Read more

Mercer integrates ESG

Mercer will integrate its proprietary environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings across all of its manager-search and performance data, cementing ESG as a key investment consideration. The consultant rates more than 20,000 strategies, oversees more than $5 trillion of assets under advice and has $60 billion in its multi-manager products. Mercer has led the consulting … Read more

Modern portfolio theory, risk and fiduciary duty

It was only a few decades ago that trustees in many jurisdictions were restricted from investing in certain assets. Fiduciary duty has evolved as the thinking about investments has changed. This is true, then, of how trustees should be applying fiduciary duty to current day investment challenges, including systemic risk and climate change risk. Ed … Read more

Singapore’s GIC stashes cash

The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) is stockpiling cash as it positions itself to take advantage of any potential opportunities, lifting its cash allocation from 3 per cent at the start of 2011 to 11 per cent of its total portfolio by the earlier part of this year. The sovereign wealth fund’s chief investment … Read more

GMO boss warns of food crisis

Global investors should have as much as 30 per cent of their portfolios exposed to natural resources, more than double the current market average, because of a burgeoning worldwide food crisis, GMO’s Jeremy Grantham says. The droughts afflicting farmers in the US and the subsequent spike in food commodity prices are just forerunners to the … Read more