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Uncategorised posts
The power of collective stewardship
Collective campaigns can vastly increase the effectiveness of stewardship, particularly on contentious issues. Asset owners are well-placed to bring results with their financial clout and focus on the long-term best interests of the companies they invest in.
Sustainability Harvard - September 2022
Decarbonizing infrastructure requires public private partnership
Panellists speaking at Sustainability in Practice discuss the need for public and private investment to work together to decarbonize infrastructure
Sustainability Harvard - September 2022
Bridgewater: The complexity of assessing corporate decarbonization
The ambiguity of forward-looking assessments and the complexity of engaging with the highest emitters are some of the big challenges asset owners face in decarbonising their portfolios
Sustainability
There is “no physical solution” to the energy shortage in Europe
A “political solution” is the only way to supply energy needed to warm homes through Europe’s winter, according to an energy sector specialist with PGIM.
Sustainability Harvard - September 2022
UN SDGs prove market-beating themes
The UN's SDGs align with thematic investment themes that are backed by multiple mega-trends, according to the head of thematic research at Pictet Asset Management.
Sustainability Harvard - September 2022
Woodwell and Wellington talk climate risk
Woodwell Climate Research Center and Wellington Management talk about their shared climate change mitigation efforts.
Sustainability Harvard - September 2022
Imperfect data no excuse for delaying net-zero commitments
Imperfect data, opaque third-party managers, and obtaining the necessary talent and tools are among the toughest challenges for investors as they navigate the path to net zero emissions by 2050.
Sustainability Harvard - September 2022
Pictet warns of asset owners critical role ahead
Asset owners specialise in identifying pricing efficiencies, and therefore cannot ignore the implications of climate change in their risk metrics, says Laurent Ramsey, managing partner of two-century-old Swiss bank and financial services company, Pictet Group.
Investor Profile
OTPP: Positioning the fund for the next decade
Amanda White speaks with Ziad Hindo, chief investment officer of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, about the risks and opportunities in the new investment environment, how agility, governance and risk management position it for success, and how it’s taking a big bet on the energy transition.
Sustainability
“ESG” strikes a nerve, why it shouldn’t
Dave Zellner, chief investment officer of Wespath Benefits and Investments, directly addresses the recent anti-ESG narrative, explaining Wespath's approach which means no political affiliation but assessing the risks and opportunities related to ESG factors.
Sustainability
What’s in a name?
Wrangles about ESG herald a time to step up on sustainable investing, not an excuse to give up argues Roger Urwin.
Sustainability
Relaxing summer set to chill for net-zero aligned C-suites
IPR’s Julian Poulter takes a sobering look at the inevitability that net zero is somewhere between very unlikely and impossible. net-zero aligned CIOs he suggests a new focus on three areas of impact: clean solution capital, negative emissions technologies and Asia.
Sustainability
ESG: It’s really quite simple
Fiona Reynolds, long-time CEO of the PRI and now CEO of publishing firm Conexus Financial, responds to the rising denunciation of ESG investing and claims that over-thinking, over-regulation and over-standardisation is complicating what is actually a very simple investment philosophy.
Investor Profile
PGB talks private equity fees as Dutch funds feel the squeeze
Dutch funds are feeling the squeeze of private equity fees, especially as beneficiaries face a cost of living crisis. Pensioenfonds PGB spends less on fees than others but CEO Harold Clijsen questions the options open to investors.
Private Equity
Alternative investment: Don’t forget the importance of lagged beta
In a recent webinar hosted by the Journal of Portfolio Management, Mark Anson, CIO and chief executive of the $28 billion Commonfund, reminded alternative investors of the importance of lagging beta, an essential consideration in portfolio construction and risk allocation.
Equities
Shift to positive stock-bond correlation could increase risk, reduce return
Investors may have to fundamentally rethink their return and risk expectations with experts arguing there are signs that stock and bond return correlations could turn positive and stay that way for years or even decades.
Sustainability
As inflation batters, TRS eyes natural gas
Inflation woes dominated at a recent TRS board meeting. However the Texas-based fund, one of the few remaining investors in fossil fuels, has benefited from its allocation to energy and is currently eyeing opportunities in natural gas infrastructure as US producers gear up to supply global demand in Russia's absence.
Stanford 2018
FIS Stanford Photo Gallery
View photos from the 2018 Fiduciary Investors Symposium, held at Stanford University, United States.
Stanford 2018
China’s enticing, challenging market
Inefficient markets and an explosion of technological innovation fuelled by Millennial consumers make China a tantalising prospect but accessing strong returns there isn’t as simple as it looks.
Stanford 2018
Protecting human capital helps everyone
Investors have plenty to gain from helping to protect human rights in supply chains and managing the human costs during technological disruption and the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Stanford 2018
How to follow megatrends to success
The big themes that will fuel growth in coming decades are interconnected and subject to change. An expert panel gave advice on riding societal change to outperformance.
Stanford 2018
How the active complements the passive
Investors discuss the various ways that two styles often presented as if they are enemies in fact work hand in hand across portfolios to produce returns.
Uncategorised posts
Crypto not suitable for fiduciaries, but opportunities in underlying tech
Cryptocurrencies do not live up to the investment hype and offer nothing but enormous volatility to institutional portfolios, according to PGIM’s mega-trend research team.
Investor Profile
Real assets a haven in likely stagflationary environment
An overweight position in real assets and private equity, and an underweight to equities and bonds positioned the Ohio School Employees Retirement System for success in the last year but CIO Farouki Majeed is now even more convinced a stagflationary environment is likely and is positioning the fund accordingly.
Asset Allocation
GPIF feels equity’s wrath; active equity reboot
Japan's GPIF feels the heat of see-sawing global equity markets in its latest quarterly results while the latest annual review reveals a shakeup in global active equity allocations in search of more manager diversification.
Investor Profile
San Bernardino tilts to US equity; informed rebalancing reaps rewards
San Bernardino County Employees’ Retirement Association, SBCERA, plans to increase its exposure to US equity in preparation for de-globalization trends. Sarah Rundell talks to CIO, Donald Pierce about asset allocation and the fund’s ‘informed rebalancing’ program.
Investor Profile
Future Fund sceptical on correlations
The Future Fund, Australia’s A$226 billion sovereign wealth fund, has embarked on an ambitious project instigated during the crisis which includes re-examining its investment assumptions, risk tolerance and the way it allocates capital. Amanda White talks to the fund’s new CIO, Sue Brake about where the fund will be allocating in the future including alternatives and active management.
Investor Profile
The impact of technology on investments
Harshal Chaudhari recently sidestepped from his role as company-wide CIO at IBM, looking after $150 billion in pension assets, to a new role as the tech giant’s chief analytics officer. He spoke to Top1000Funds about the strategy he ran at the pension fund, his wider thoughts on the global economy and the impact of technology on the investment world.
Risk
Risk aversion matters: life-cycle design
A key issue in life-cycle fund design is setting the right ‘glide path’ for switching from growth to defensive assets over time. As it turns out, risk aversion is far more important than pension fund balance. New research raises a note of caution over offering a single, one-size-fits-all life-cycle fund.
Strategy
Tough times greet new CalPERS CIO
Ben Meng isn’t easing into his role. The new CIO of CalPERS faces three new board members, a stressed private equity program and executive turnover, all under the pressure of a 70 per cent funded status and a maturing membership at the $340 billion fund.