December 2022

U.K. Investors must innovate to stay ahead of FCA’s SDR proposal

The FCA’s new sustainability disclosure requirements may prove to be a defining moment for financial services, the chief project officer at the Global Returns Project has said. Jack Chellman told FTAdviser the FCA’s rules, which are currently being consulted on, cannot come soon enough. “Investors are increasingly concerned about greenwashing,” he said. “Looking ahead to 2023, asset managers must embrace innovative approaches to demonstrate their sustainability credentials if they are to satisfy their clients and rise to the challenge of constructing attractive, competitive...

Finnish pension fund manager Varma to monitor human rights impact

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co., Helsinki, said Thursday that it will incorporate human rights as sustainability risks in its investments, operations and supply chain. Varma, which managed €56.4 billion ($54.9 billion) at the end of September, said in a news release that after assessing the human rights risks and impacts of its operations, it established principles for human rights and a commitment to address violations that could impact investments. "Human rights have become increasingly important in the past few years. Russia's...

How schemes can enjoy the blooming of biodiversity bonds

Analysis: With the world’s nations reaching a historic agreement to preserve global biodiversity at COP15 in Montreal, attention is inevitably turning to how businesses can uphold the commitment to protect 30 per cent of the planet’s land and sea. Financing biodiversity projects has long been a sticking point for institutions. The International Finance Corporation describes a “lack of guidance in the market on criteria for projects eligible for this kind of financing”, resulting in a “gap” between investors’ ambitions and...

5 Takeaways on the State of ESG Investing

ESG investing is hot. But what does it actually deliver for society and for shareholders? For the past several years or so, major funds, managers, and institutional investors have been stocking their portfolios with investments in firms that claim to be engaged in positive environmental, social, and governance (ESG) activities. On the websites of actively managed funds, investors show giant banners touting a commitment to invest in firms working to make the world a better, safer place, says Aaron Yoon, assistant...

Swiss pension fund association lays out ESG reporting standards

The Swiss pension fund association ASIP has published reporting guidelines for Pensionskassen investments following ESG standards that will apply from 1 January. The ESG reporting guidelines include the disclosure of qualitative information on how pension funds deal with this topic, and quantitative information on individual investments. According to the guidelines, Pensionskassen would publilsh qualitative statements on the goals and principles of their sustainability strategies, underlining for example if they are anchored to investment rules, and the investment approaches for different asset...

Financial institutions call on world leaders to adopt Global Biodiversity Framework

World leaders have been urged by 150 financial institutions representing more than US $24trn in assets to adopt a post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework at the UN Biodiversity Conference COP15. As reported by our sister publication, European Pensions, the statement is led by the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative and the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation, and calls on governments from around the world to adopt the framework for economic players, including financial institutions. The framework aims...

US. Political fight against ESG continues in 3 states

Politicians in Kentucky, Florida and North Carolina have continued a crusade by Republican leaders for pension funds to break with ESG and BlackRock. While several state treasury funds have dropped BlackRock from investments, pension plans have been less willing to follow. In Florida, Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis terminated BlackRock from the management of $2 billion in the state's long-duration portfolio and called on the Florida State Board of Administration, Tallahassee, to drop BlackRock from more than $13 billion in...

Global Public Investor 2022

By OMFIF Most central bank reserves managers are resigned to a period of higher inflation and lower returns, according to a report published today by OMFIF. More than 75% of the central banks surveyed for the 2022 edition of Global Public Investor believe inflation will be sustainably higher or more volatile for a prolonged period. Just 20% of reserves managers think inflation will be transitory. At the same time, central banks believe the new macroeconomic environment will cause their portfolios to suffer....

Can Investors Save the Planet? – NZAMI and Fiduciary Duty

By Tom Gosling & Iain MacNeil Asset manager signatories of the Net Zero Asset Manager Initiative, part of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, have committed to investing in line with the Race to Zero goal of limiting global warming to 1.5oC with limited or no overshoot. Given that a recent report from United Nations Environment Programme says that there is “no credible pathway” in place to 1.5oC, we explore the implications for asset managers, as fiduciaries, of investing...

Vanguard quits Net Zero Asset Managers initiative

Vanguard Group is leaving an asset managers initiative committed to net-zero goals and will pursue similar objectives independently, it said Wednesday in a statement on its website. With roughly $8.1 trillion under management, Vanguard was one of the largest members of the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, which as of November had 291 signatories with a collective $66 trillion under management, committed to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Vanguard said in its statement that it was withdrawing from the initiative it...