According to academic research analysed by the Mercer Responsible Investment business unit in its latest report, there is a growing engagement by the investment community in responsible investment, just as the link between environmental, social and governance issues and performance proves to be a positive relationship. Amanda White spoke with Helga Birgden, head of responsible investment, Asia Pacific about the research, and the growing awareness by managers that ESG factors are a genuine source of alpha.
CalPERS backs internal, external FI managers amid liquidity ‘conundrum’
After missing the strong rally in the US high yield debt market, the $201.3 billion CalPERS’ global fixed income program, which manages about a quarter of the fund’s assets, has extended its mandates with external managers and will continue actively managing its US debt portfolio internally.
Arizona targets commodities, emerging markets in allocations overhaul
This month the $24 billion Arizona State Retirement System completed an asset allocation overhaul resulting in new dedicated allocations to commodities and emerging market equities. Amanda White spoke with director Paul Matson about the decision-making process and the exposure and implementation decisions, including manager selection, still to come.
Florida benefits from equities overweights
The $110 billion Florida Retirement System Pension Plan (FRS PP) outperformed its policy benchmark by 10 basis points in the September quarter, thanks to overweight allocations to domestic and international equities.
New ICGN Principles shift focus to behaviour
The International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) has revised its Principles for the first time since 2005, shifting the focus from structures to behaviour and culture, as well as adding two new Principles, including risk management, as a result of the financial crisis.
CalPERS gives external managers one more year, pending review
CalPERS has extended the mandates of its external global equities managers by one year to enable staff to complete the asset class review, which will produce a recommendation about the role of external managers in the portfolio.
