More comment – Page 21
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Opinion PiecesNotes from the Netherlands: Inflation could bolster pension reforms
The Dutch pension agreement, paving the way for a change from a defined benefit to defined contribution-type system, was concluded in the pre-COVID summer of 2019. But it is still waiting to be implemented, with the delay blamed on the protracted negotiations following Dutch parliamentary elections in March 2021.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: Global firms circle last bank-owned super fund
Several global firms, including private equity giant KKR and asset manager Vanguard, have thrown their hat in the ring to buy one of the last Australian bank-owned superannuation businesses.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from US: ESG faces backlash in some US states over fossil fuels
Is there a backlash against the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing movement?
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Greenwashing needs to be pinned down
On 10 March 2022, the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) turns one. In terms of how it was drafted and how it has been implemented, it hasn’t exactly covered itself in glory, although it was high time regulators got involved to try to bring some order into ESG-land.
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Opinion PiecesGuest Viewpoint – Nicholas Benes: The stock exchange of the future
In 2060, the world may look back at decades of convulsive changes in equity markets, guided by optimism that civilisation might just make it. People might remember that at some point during the second decade of the 21st century the earth suddenly exceeded 1.5°C of warming over pre-industrial times, sparking mass protests and turbocharging activism, focusing even more on ESG themes and ‘shareholder democracy’. Global movements will have been propelled by strange weather phenomena and the participation of young people, who had gained deeper understanding of equity markets than ever before.
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Opinion Pieces‘Levelling up’ white paper targets LGPS funds to support local areas
The UK government’s long-awaited ‘Levelling Up the United Kingdom’ white paper, published last month, includes several bold missions to help achieve greater equality. One is to call on Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) funds to publish plans for increasing local investment.
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: The Roadmap to a net-zero, nature-positive economy
Laurent Babikian, joint global director of capital markets at CDP, explores specific actions that companies, capital markets and regulators must take to accelerate the transition to a net-zero, nature-positive economy
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Opinion PiecesPEPP could be a slow-burn success if big asset managers help
When early pan-European pension concepts took shape, spearheaded by the late Koen de Ryck of Pragma Consulting and his groundbreaking 1996 report, there was a vision that cross-border pension provision by the likes of Unilever and Shell would provide a European model for DB pensions that would boost labour mobility, take workplace retirement provision to under-served markets and set standards for the future.
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Opinion PiecesThe EU taxonomy needs rescuing
The EU taxonomy, a system for identifying what economic activities count as sustainable, has been in the spotlight since the news broke on new year’s eve about a proposal from the European Commission to extend it to cover nuclear energy and natural gas. It is unclear how long the controversy will last.
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Opinion PiecesNews Notes: Worth de-risking it all
Several advisers in the UK are predicting 2022 will be the biggest pension scheme de-risking year yet.
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Opinion Pieces
Notes from the Nordics: Danish funds keen to invest in green project
Danish pension funds have been at the forefront of discussions on how to achieve the nation’s ambitious goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 70% from 1990 levels by 2030.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: Superfunds focus on retirement income
When you’ve spent as much time around superannuation as I have, you get to see a lot of eggs,” says senior corporate regulator Helen Rowell. “Images of eggs, usually in nests, often painted gold, frequently laying on a bed of $100 notes.”
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Opinion PiecesLetter from US: Upcoming court ruling could create complications for DC plan sponsors
By the first half of this year, the United States Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision that could affect the defined-contribution (DC) industry. The case is Hughes vs Northwestern University, one of about 150 similar class-action lawsuits filed nationally in the past few years, alleging that plan fiduciaries breached their duty of prudence under ERISA, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.
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Opinion PiecesGuest Viewpoint: Is Europe on track to become sovereign?
The Next Generation EU (NGEU) programme is designed to speed up the EU recovery and spur growth over the medium and long term. More importantly, it represents a unique opportunity to lay the foundations of a deep and liquid European safe asset.
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Asset managers continue to grow dedicated sustainable investment headcount
Paul Lee, Redington’s head of stewardship and sustainable investment strategy, argues that asset managers making dedicated sustainable investment hires isn’t necessarily the best use of resource when it comes to ESG engagement
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Unlocking the UK’s entrepreneurial spirit
Unlocking pension funding and changing mindsets can catalyse the true potential of successful small businesses, says Chris Hulatt, co-founder of Octopus Group
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Transparency is set to transform ESG reporting
Three things to keep in mind as the International Sustainability Standards Board starts work on sustainability standards
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Eumedion welcomes a fruitful start on standards
IPE questioned Martijn Bos, policy adviser at the Dutch institutional investor corporate governance and sustainability forum Eumedion, about the new ISSB
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Opinion PiecesLacklustre pensions in an innovative CEE region
Capital funded pension systems across the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries have suffered from poor policy decisions over the years. These have included suspensions or reductions to contributions and even transfers of assets from individual accounts to the state.
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Opinion PiecesNews Notes: PEPP cap elicits muted response
The date for authorisation for the so-called Pan-European personal pension product (PEPP) is fast approaching – 22 March 2022 – and yet the European pensions market seems to be relatively quiet about it.
