More comment – Page 36
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Canada: Considering controversy
Pension funds have essentially one goal – invest and grow the fund for members. But what if money-making investments run afoul of environmental, social and governance practices?
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Opinion PiecesGuest viewpoint: Tracy Blackwell, Pension Insurance Corporation
The financial services industry is one of the least trusted in the UK. The Purpose of Finance project aims to address issues of trust and reform
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FeaturesRelative response to liquidity issues
Equity risk is a crucial portfolio exposure for pension funds and a key driver for long-term retirement outcomes for pension plans and their beneficiaries. Yet the structure of equity markets is in transition, which changes the way pension funds choose to allocate capital to them.
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Opinion PiecesAnimal welfare: Probing the global meat complex
Everyone knows about ‘big oil’ and how much influence the global agribusiness sector has. But there is less awareness about the negative impacts of meat producers – the ‘global meat complex’.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from the US: On a secure retirement path
The most significant changes to US retirement plans in more than a decade look set to be approved by Congress. On 23 May, the House of Representatives passed the Secure Act – Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement – by 417-3, and the Senate is also likely to approve it, with President Donald Trump unopposed.
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Opinion PiecesGuest viewpoint: Adam Matthews and John Howchin
“The Brumadinho dam tragedy causes us to question if we have created the conditions for a set of disasters”
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FeaturesPolicies needed
The new European Commission will inherit a coherent but partially implemented Capital Markets Union (CMU) in the autumn. But much needs to be done to consolidate, refocus and re-energise this landmark constellation of policies and objectives.
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Opinion PiecesLong-term matters: Exxon’s AGM – can investors learn from the slave trade?
English evangelical protestants allied with the Quakers initiated the campaign to abolish the UK slave trade in the early nineteenth century. Two centuries later, the Vatican has said that climate change is a “moral and religious imperative for humanity”. Will the fate of fossil fuel companies be defined by public, sovereign and religious investors? And can other investors watch from the sidelines?
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Opinion PiecesLetter from the US: Practitioners defend ESG from executive threat
The proxy season was different in the US this time around. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) resolutions – as well as the use of those criteria for investing – are under scrutiny by the Trump administration and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
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Opinion PiecesIPE Perspective: Two sides to the MMT premise
Is there any merit in functional finance versus classical economic theory?
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Opinion PiecesGuest viewpoint: Beat Zaugg
A striking indication of ESG’s importance in Switzerland is that Ueli Maurer, the country’s president, will be the keynote speaker at the Swiss Sustainable Finance annual conference in Bern
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FeaturesConnecting climate dots
The transition to a low-carbon economy should lead to significant economic opportunity
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Opinion PiecesDon’t panic (yet) about populism
When I called for investor engagement with Facebook and the social media giants, I did not expect to see a sovereign wealth fund leading such an initiative just three months later
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Opinion Pieces
Personalised TDFs on the rise
The newest trend in 401(k) plans is launching personalised versions of target-date funds (TDFs)
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Opinion PiecesGuest Viewpoint: Christin ter Braak-Forstinger
Impact investing has undergone a rapid evolution over the past decade. What originally started with investments in countries at the bottom of the pyramid has become a valid investment approach in developed countries as well.
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News
Joseph Mariathasan: Satellites’ ‘PC moment’ has profound implications
Vastly reduced costs of launching and building satellites opens up range of new opportunities
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FeaturesTen years ago
Equity markets reached rock bottom in early March 2009, with the S&P 500 falling under 700 before embarking on a steep bull run that only really lost momentum last October
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Opinion PiecesLong-term matters: Lessons for Climate Action 100+
Fund management is a pretty opaque profession, and no aspect more so than the way investors hold the management of investee companies accountable
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Opinion PiecesBrussels People: Europe’s conservatives eye Africa
Describing himself as “the most senior elected Brit in Brussels” and speaking ahead of 29 March when he and the UK’s 72 other MEPs were set to relinquish their mandate in the European Parliament, Syed Kamall is keen to speak about matters other than Europe.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from the US: The $20bn club shifts strategy
The funded status of US corporate defined benefit (DB) plans is getting better, thanks to investment gains and higher corporate bond interest rates that decrease liabilities.
