More comment – Page 26
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Opinion PiecesEquities 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 PiecesHopes 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 PiecesGreen 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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Opinion PiecesSustainability: 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 PiecesLetter from Australia: Should super savings fund homes?
A post-COVID-19 housing boom has made the future of Australia’s A$3trn (€2trn) superannuation savings pool a hot topic.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from US: Pension bonds raise concerns
The resurgence of interest in pension obligation bonds (POBs) is one of the effects of the pandemic on the US pension funds industry. Indeed in 2020 POB issuance reached its highest level in a decade, exceeding $6bn (€5bn), according to Municipal Market Analytics (MMA), an independent research firm focusing on the US municipal bonds.
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Opinion PiecesGuest viewpoint: Francesco Curto, DWS
The UK’s report into the Economics of Diversity, the Dasgupta review, highlights that our economic model is not sustainable
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Schemes must align climate goals with overall endgame objectives
Over the next 10 to 30 years, pension schemes face two major challenges: ensuring that member promises can be paid in full and on time and climate change
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Opinion PiecesCapital 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 PiecesCulture 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.
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Opinion Pieces‘Urgency’ necessary for adequate provision
The IORP II Directive seeks to “improve the way occupational pension funds are governed”, to “enhance information transparency” to pension savers and to “clarify the procedures for carrying out cross-border transfers and activities”, according to EIOPA.
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Opinion PiecesGuest Viewpoint: Kerrie Waring, International Corporate Governance Network
This year, ICGN’s flagship Global Governance Principles will be revised as part of a three-year review. This year’s revision is set within a world facing systemic challenges: a global pandemic and climate change
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Opinion PiecesFX Reserves: The ‘rainy day’ has arrived
The world is facing a short-term health and economic crisis with COVID-19. In the longer term it is threatened by an existential crisis with global warming caused by burning fossil fuels.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: Retail super funds in distress
Australia’s once-dominant retail super funds are witnessing the end of an era as they wrestle with loss of consumer confidence in their brands. Hastening change has been the rise of industry supers, which benefitted from damaging evidence provided to the Hayne Royal Commission in 2018.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from US: COVID and racial justice to the fore
The 2021 proxy season’s hot issues are human capital management related to COVID-19 and social justice. Several large US public pension funds are at the forefront of these campaigns together with non-profit shareholder advocacy organisations like the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) and As You Sow, a non-profit foundation that promotes corporate accountability.
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: PE must work towards measuring impact of sustainable investing
While EU regulation is a positive development, which will bring greater standardisation to ESG reporting, investors, organisations and regulators must aim to go further
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Opinion PiecesInfra must adapt to meet pension goals
Looked at collectively, or even individually, the cashflow needs of Europe’s defined benefit (DB) and hybrid pension schemes are huge and potentially challenging given the scale of income generating assets needed to help service them.
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Opinion PiecesThe world is approaching an inflection point
Domestic challenges and US political developments have proved such a preoccupation recently that it has been all too easy to miss a key global shift. China’s rise to global prominence has accelerated markedly as a result of the past year’s events.
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Opinion PiecesCOVID-19 barely tested the financial system
The financial system seems to have coped well with COVID-19. This is despite the repeated recent warnings about a build-up of systemic risk. In turn this has been linked to the abundance of cheap debt and the growth of the asset management industry.
