All Opinion Pieces articles – Page 4

  • climate change
    Opinion Pieces

    Viewpoint: It’s the government’s move now

    2023-07-28T07:00:00Z

    Pension funds should urge governments to support new products and habits to reduce CO2 emissions

  • Climate Innovation and the New Capex Cycle
    Opinion Pieces

    Viewpoint: Climate change action is failing

    2023-07-21T12:05:00Z

    Recent research showed that around two in three respondents in financial organisations did not believe their own climate promises could be kept in time

  • Federal Reserve
    Opinion Pieces

    Viewpoint: Breaking the banks

    2023-07-14T13:28:00Z

    Pension funds should ally themselves with activist investors to break up the hegemony of large banks

  • venilia amorim
    Opinion Pieces

    Harnessing the power of corporate governance

    July/August 2023 (Magazine)

    Pension funds and other institutional asset owners have significant influence when it comes to voting in companies’ annual general meetings (AGMs). The consequences of their voting decisions can have a profound impact on company share prices and long-term objectives, especially in the context of climate change.

  • Liam Kennnedy
    Opinion Pieces

    Capital competition: where does it leave sustainability goals?

    July/August 2023 (Magazine)

    For pension funds and other similar large institutional pools of capital, there is significant pressure from politicians to invest in politically favoured domestic sectors – like renewables or high-growth sectors like venture capital. 

  • Haje Schütte2
    Opinion Pieces

    Guest viewpoint: Green bonds require better coordination for real impact

    July/August 2023 (Magazine)

    Worth approximately $128.3trn (€117trn), the global bond market could add billions to the global effort to reach the United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDGs). Yet only a fraction of the market currently consists of green, social and sustainability (GSS) bonds, and of that very little is being issued in developing countries. In 2022, annual GSS bond issuances stood at under 10% of overall bonds and only 13% of them came from entities in developing countries, a number that dwindles to around 5% when excluding issuers from China. 

  • Carlo Svaluto Moreolo
    Opinion Pieces

    Lessons learned from Berlusconi’s pension reforms

    July/August 2023 (Magazine)

    To some, the death of Silvio Berlusconi on 12 June this year, is the end of an era for Italian politics. Berlusconi was the longest-serving prime minister in the history of the republic and a highly controversial figure, at home and abroad. He can be described as the first modern European populist leader. 

  • Latham Danny
    Opinion Pieces

    Letter from Australia: Retail funds lured by private markets

    July/August 2023 (Magazine)

    Australia’s retail funds are trying to navigate the unfamiliar terrain of private markets as they seek to lift their performance. 

  • Marasco Cathy
    Opinion Pieces

    Letter from US: Annuities move into the US market

    July/August 2023 (Magazine)

    Three of the largest players in the US pension industry are launching new products that offer annuities as a retirement savings distribution option. Millions of Americans will soon have access to pension-like investments in their 401(k) plans thanks to BlackRock, Fidelity Investments, and State Street Global Advisors. The other large player in the US market, Vanguard, will not take part in this new trend.

  • Rachel Fixsen
    Opinion Pieces

    Notes from the Nordics: NBIM still learning on equal pay after winning employment case

    July/August 2023 (Magazine)

    Norway’s sovereign wealth fund has hailed the benefits of litigation abroad to drive its corporate governance agenda. Closer to home, victory in an Oslo employment case may have rung decidedly hollow for Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM).

  • Philipp Loehrhoff at Berenberg
    Opinion Pieces

    Viewpoint: UK defined contribution market

    2023-06-30T10:00:00Z

    Many investors nearing retirement are unable or unwilling to take on the volatility associated with a more aggressive portfolio

  • Robert Hall at Federated Hermes
    Opinion Pieces

    Viewpoint: The carbon credit conundrum – a new approach

    2023-06-23T11:38:00Z

    The goal of linking verifiable carbon mitigation and nature restoration with a financial return has long been the holy grail for climate-aware investors

  • Chris Sier at ClearGlass
    Opinion Pieces

    Viewpoint: Fee transparency – it’s good for managers too, but they probably won’t believe it

    2023-06-09T09:43:00Z

    Asset managers are still not properly able to represent the true and comparative value-for-money they provide

  • John Scott_ Pew Charitable
    Opinion Pieces

    US: state enrolment systems gain traction

    June 2023 (Magazine)

    There are signs that the US state-facilitated retirement savings plans are starting to have a positive impact on both the creation and uptake of private pension plans.

  • Hall Marisa
    Opinion Pieces

    Guest viewpoint: Standardised data on diversity and inclusion will help team development

    June 2023 (Magazine)

    Promoting inclusiveness and diversity in organisations is key to discovering their human capital potential. But fostering a culture of continuous improvement is critical if this is to be fully realised. 

  • Carlo Svaluto Moreolo
    Opinion Pieces

    Do not blame institutions for taking risks

    June 2023 (Magazine)

    Alecta, the SEK1.19trn (€105bn) institution that manages the Swedish ITP private-sector pension scheme, is being probed by Swedish regulators for the €1.9bn capital loss it experienced earlier this year, as the three US regional banks it invested in – Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank – collapsed. The institution reacted by firing its influential CEO Magnus Billing. 

  • Liam Kennnedy
    Opinion Pieces

    Better the equity market devil you know?

    June 2023 (Magazine)

    Being a large equity investor in a relatively small domestic market can have advantages as well as drawbacks. Proximity to the market and its infrastructure, good knowledge of corporates and corporate leaders, and the ability to exercise strong influence as an owner, potentially a stable long-term one, all count among the advantages. The need to avoid concentration – in terms of position, sizing and overall allocations – and idiosyncratic sector exposure are among the challenges. 

  • Luigi Serenelli at IPE
    Opinion Pieces

    German pensions sector backs cost rethink

    June 2023 (Magazine)

    Applause, which started mildly but ended robustly, suddenly reverberated in a packed Berlin conference room a few weeks ago. An audience of industry experts, pension managers, associations and trade unions clapped at the suggestion that Germany’s BaFin regulator should avoid repeating its exercise on cost reporting for IORPs, initiated by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), and implemented in turn by BaFin. The exercise was a disappointment, and an excessive, unnecessary effort for the German pension industry. 

  • APRA Statistics
    Opinion Pieces

    Australia: volatility stirs valuations debate

    June 2023 (Magazine)

    As a disconnect in the valuation of listed and unlisted assets widens in today’s volatile markets, the torchlight is again being trained on Australia’s guardians of retirement savings.

  • Tjibbe Hoekstra at IPE
    Opinion Pieces

    Carbon reduction: absolute goals, please

    June 2023 (Magazine)

    Dutch healthcare scheme PFZW last month reluctantly changed its 50% CO2 reduction target for 2030 from a relative to an absolute target, following in the footsteps of fellow Dutch pension funds ABP and PME. The fund cited the “negative sentiment” around relative targets as a reason for its change of heart.