CalPERS, CalSTRS champion for diversity

The Californian pension funds, CalPERS and CalSTRS, have taken a leadership role in promoting corporate board diversity, demonstrated in the launch at the NYSE this week of 3D with GMI Ratings, and membership in the Thirty Percent Coalition. 3D, which stands for Diverse Director DataSource, is a databank of pre-approved board candidates with an emphasis … Read more

Consultants advocate active EMD management

Consultants are recommending investors have as much as 10 per cent of their fixed-income portfolio in emerging markets debt with endowments, public pension funds and even some corporate clients using liability driven investment strategies showing increasing interest in the asset class. Top1000funds.com spoke to consultants from Callan Associates, Hewitt EnnisKnupp, Cambridge Associates and Russell Investments … Read more

AP2 extends metrics to emerging markets debt

Swedish buffer fund AP2 is investigating a move from traditional market cap-weighted benchmarks for its fixed-income portfolio to using other metrics, such as fiscal sustainability or GDP weights, the fund’s chief investment strategist Tomas Franzen says. The 216.6-billion Swedish krona ($30.9 billion) fund has more than 36 per cent of its portfolio in investment-grade fixed … Read more

A catalyst for change: PGGM owns ESG

Not content to sit back and wait for the market to move, PGGM decided to learn by doing and launched its own responsible-equity portfolio three years ago. In line with its belief that sustainability pays, PGGM’s portfolio has a long-term investment horizon that integrates financial and environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors with active ownership. … Read more

Demystifying equal weighting

The idea of accessing risk premia through the use of index-based funds and ETFs has been gaining momentum in recent years. Risk premia indexes aim to reflect the equity premia of stock characteristics such as value, size or momentum. Among the risk premia indexes, equally weighted indexes are some of the oldest and most well … Read more

Exchanges support
better disclosure

A line in the sand has been drawn on the short-term behaviour of all participants in capital markets – including companies, brokers, funds managers and investors – with the formal commitment of five stock exchanges to promote long-term, sustainable investment and improved environmental, social, and governance disclosure and performance among listed companies. With a combined … Read more