Analysis and opinion
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Opinion PiecesGovernance must be the embedded solution
Europe now has approaching two decades of experience with the investment outsourcing that is loosely called fiduciary management, or sometimes outsourced CIO (OCIO), to use the US terminology.
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Opinion Pieces
ESG: progress but still much road to travel
Good things are happening in the land of ESG. Aspects of the European Commission’s sustainable finance action plan regulation have certainly been frustrating, but the sustainable finance disclosure regulation (SFDR), for example, does look like it could end up having a beneficial effect, even though there are still problems associated with it and the effect is perhaps not the one that was envisaged for the SFDR.
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Opinion Pieces
Notes from Switzerland: Work in progress
History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce: now another referendum result in Switzerland is poised to obstruct changes designed for a long-term impact.
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Opinion Pieces
Social risks impact on employer covenant
The UK’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) recent consultation – Consideration of social risks and opportunities by occupational pension schemes – seeks to assess how trustees understand ‘social’ factors and how they aim to integrate financially material social factors into investment and stewardship activities.
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Features
Incorporating climate change within investment portfolios
Recording the possible impacts of climate change on investment portfolios is becoming a regulatory and reporting requirement. Asset managers and asset owners will need to incorporate it into future management information and reporting systems.
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Opinion Pieces
The rising tide of corporate governance
In the last year, there has been a broad shift in corporate governance focus towards social issues, including human capital management – the ‘S’ of ESG.
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Opinion Pieces
The recovery does not eliminate systemic risk
The world’s economy is already recovering from the damage inflicted by the lockdown measures imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19 in 2020.
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Opinion Pieces
Establishing a sustainable path
Investors increasingly want to take a more environmentally, socially and governance-conscious approach to investing. Despite the growing choice of ESG strategies, the wide range of products and a lack of uniformity can make it difficult to compare the options.
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Analysis
Bridgewater: Fluent in risk, return… and impact
Bridgewater Associates, one of the most prominent macro hedge funds, is reflecting the integration of sustainability in its research process with two senior appointments.
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Opinion Pieces
Abundant opportunity… and risk
In case you needed reminding, both China’s equity and fixed-income markets are the world’s second-largest after the US.
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Opinion Pieces
Emerging markets require a rethink
A rethink of the term ‘emerging markets’ is long overdue. It has always been a catch-all category but the gap between the description and reality is becoming over-stretched.
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Opinion Pieces
Strategy reset during a pandemic
Just over six months into the job, Nicolai Tangen, who took over as CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) last September from Yngve Slyngstad, has already revised the asset manager’s strategy plan for this year and next.
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Features
Africa offers Europe opportunities
In 2015, Europe faced the prospect of a million Syrian refugees fleeing from civil war, attempting to cross into its borders. The sudden influx created a political as well as a humanitarian crisis with Hungary building a 175km-long fence to prevent crossings from the Balkans.
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Opinion Pieces
Equities to the fore as an inflation hedge
At a time when institutions can deploy billions swiftly at the touch of a few buttons, there is increasing focus on deploying capital well. A notable buzzword of late has been ‘resilience’ as pension funds look to downside risks.
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Opinion Pieces
Hopes for coherence in sustainability disclosures regulations
It could have been done differently, but, nonetheless, a clear path is emerging as to how EU sustainable finance regulations will become more of a coherent whole. The problem that has been perceived and outlined time and time again by investor groups is that disclosures are being asked of their constituencies – asset managers, pension funds – for which the data is not really available, or only at a significant cost. Tough, some may say, get on with it.
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Opinion Pieces
Green ambitions to drive recovery
Last month, Italy announced its first foray into the hot market of green bonds by raising a record €8.5bn (see page 9).
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Features
Sustainability: A purpose-driven stock exchange
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have caught the imagination of the investment world. For many in the millennial generation the idea that its investments should fulfil positive social or environmental impacts seems self-evident. Yet many asset managers still struggle to incorporate SDGs into their strategies. Nor do they hesitate to trumpet questionable ESG credentials to investors.
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Opinion Pieces
Capital will drive best practice in reporting
The European Commission’s review of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD), scheduled for publication shortly, comes at a time of increased scrutiny of both corporates and those who supply them with debt and equity.
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Opinion Pieces
Culture wars pose the greatest dangers
What areas within the increasingly bitter conflict between China and the West are most likely to hit asset owners?
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Opinion Pieces
‘Whatever it takes’ may not be enough
Italy has another new government; the 67th since 1946. An argument over the management of EU COVID-19 recovery funds led to the appointment of Mario Draghi, the former president of the European Central Bank (ECB), as prime minister. He is after all credited with saving the euro-zone by pledging to do “whatever it takes” during the 2012 debt crisis.
