As MSCI moves to expand its sustainability research capability to emerging markets, its global head of index and ESG research, Remy Briand, has urged investors to dramatically improve their reporting standards to make good on their ESG cause. (more…)
First he convinced some of us that cap-weighted indexing doesn’t work, now Rob Arnott, the founder of Research Affiliates, is back with more bombshells – that the equity risk premium, as we came to know it, is gone and not hurrying back; and that emerging market debt is “objectively a better credit risk” than US Treasuries, at a higher yield to boot.
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Local pension plans have warmly greeted the second phase of pension reform in Ontario, Canada, through a bill which contains provisions such as restrictions on benefit improvements where amendments will compromise a plan’s funded position. 
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Institutional investors are again in a situation where virtually any combination of publicly traded investments will not meet their return goals, according to director of research at Wurts and Associates, Eric Petroff. So what should they do now? (more…)
A new VisionFocus report by State Street leverages new research by State Street Global Advisors to examine the growing impact of environmental, social and governance concerns on the investment decisions of institutional investors. (more…)
France’s penchant for social demonstration targeted pension reform this week, with more than one million people striking over proposals to increase the retirement age from 60 to 62. The scenes could act as a warning to other countries with similar pension shortfalls. (more…)