All Opinion Pieces articles – Page 3
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Opinion PiecesThe ‘active versus passive’ investment debate should be over
Perhaps there should never have been a debate about whether stock picking is appropriate for institutional portfolios.
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Opinion PiecesBeyond the ESG backlash – what next for European asset owners?
The US asset management landscape is rapidly transforming, with a re-evaluation of investment priorities shaped by political pressure and regulatory change. For European asset owners this brings both uncertainty and a rare opportunity to achieve strategic clarity, provided they are willing to look beyond the short-term chaos.
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Opinion PiecesGet dirt rich to save the earth: Soil as an asset class
Nature can provide almost 40% of greenhouse gas reductions needed by 2030, according to research published in 2017 by the Nature Conservancy.
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Opinion PiecesAustralian super funds split on US exposure post Trump tariffs
Just weeks after Australian super funds visited the United States to pitch investments worth hundreds of billions of dollars, US president Donald Trump delivered a body blow with his ‘Liberation Day’ tariff plan.
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Opinion PiecesDomestic investment bias is back: sow’s ear or silk purse?
Pension funds now have a very large dollop of geopolitical risk to contend with at a time when many are under some degree of pressure, overt or otherwise, to invest more domestically.
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Opinion PiecesUK defined contribution pension schemes sign up to Mansion House II
Labour’s ‘Mansion House Accord’ has secured commitments from 17 of the largest workplace DC providers to invest 10% of their default funds into private markets by 2030, with 5% of the total allocated to the UK.
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Investing in a post ‘Liberation Day’ era
Saker Nusseibeh, CEO of Federated Hermes, says that despite big shifts in geopolitics and trade, investors’ jobs remain the same
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: super funds sanguine on US-led ESG pullback
Despite US backpedalling on climate change initiatives, Australia’s superannuation funds are taking a long-term approach to ‘green’ opportunities
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Opinion PiecesEurope’s investment challenge: an unattractive investment destination
This article is the second in a series on the role of pension funds in securing European growth and competitiveness
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Indonesia’s sustainable finance energy is encouraging
Olga Hancock, head of responsible investment at the UK’s Church Commissioners, reports back from an investor trip to Jakarta
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Opinion PiecesGuest viewpoint: Seizing the digital opportunity in Europe
Digitalisation has far-reaching consequences for Europe’s financial services sector and should be embraced rather than feared, argues Jorik van Zanden
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Opinion PiecesEurope’s investment challenge: how the Savings and Investment Union can help
Pension funds can be part of the solution to Europe’s problems, but only if the EU progresses smart policy options
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Opinion PiecesPlan fiduciaries wary of ESG investment criteria after American Airlines ruling
The US is experiencing a period of significant uncertainty across various sectors, including federal regulation of retirement plans. This uncertainty is being compounded by the increasing politicisation of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria in investing.
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Opinion PiecesDo artificial intelligence agents herald a brave new era in investments?
The artificial intelligence (AI) landscape is undergoing a profound transformation. While chatbots dominated the early phases of consumer AI applications, we are now witnessing a jump in AI evolution through the creation of AI agents.
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Opinion PiecesGerman pension funds need to step up in fight to boost economic growth
Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU) parties, together with the Social Democratic Party (SPD), have now entered negotiations to form a new ‘grand coalition’ government
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Opinion PiecesThe evergreen funds evolution in private credit investments
The market turmoil of 2022 taught pension funds a fundamental lesson about balancing long-term objectives with short-term events.
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Opinion PiecesDenmark’s pension funds offer a template for an innovative defence investments play
The tone of Europe’s political debate on defence expenditure has shifted markedly this year. And as former Netherlands defence minister Kajsa Ollongren, put it in a Chatham House Q&A in early March: “The mindset should be ‘war economy’.”
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Opinion PiecesInvestors must speak up on ESG reporting rules dictated by the EU’s omnibus
Shareholder engagement used to be all about reporting. What gets measured gets managed was the tagline of a whole era of ESG, as investors requested more and more information from companies to help them understand their environmental and social risks.
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Opinion PiecesEU omnibus is a sustainability retreat, not a simplification
The EC’s Simplification Omnibus proposal was presented as a necessary step to reduce the regulatory burden on businesses and enhance competitiveness. By amending key sustainability directives the Commission claims to be streamlining compliance processes for companies.
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Opinion PiecesRetail superannuation funds gain favour
A three-way battle is raging for control of Insignia Financial, the third-largest retail super fund in Australia’s A$4.1trn (€2.5trn) superannuation sector.
