October 2019

18Oct

Asia behind in sustainable investments, but attitudes are changing, industry leaders say

Asia lags behind Europe and other regions in constructing investment portfolios that consider environmental and social factors along with returns, despite rising demand for such products among investors globally, according to industry leaders. But, that is beginning to change as more and more funds are shifting to so-called environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies in Japan, and China will require listed companies and bond issuers to disclose environmental and social risks in their businesses beginning in 2020, they said....

October 18, 2019
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10Oct

Sustainable Green Finance May Be The Next Big Thing

Green finance, in its simplicity, are investments flowing into sustainable projects and initiatives that encourage a more environment-friendly and socially-conscious economy. There have been significant advancements in sustainable investments in the last decades that every asset class has evolved to include financial products and investment strategies that incorporate sustainability factors. Green finance leads us to the emerging markets as well, where funding gaps for sustainability developments are wider. This idea was discussed in more depth with members of my...

October 10, 2019
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09Oct

South Africa. The impact of ethical investment by pension funds

The core functions of a pension fund are to provide its beneficiaries with good enough returns for them to live on – and a good enough world to retire into. It makes little sense to simply strive to generate financial returns for pensioners, if the investments that provide those returns are reckless, bad for the planet or perpetuate social inequality and inequity. It is thus common sense that responsible investing – which all investing should actually be – must...

October 9, 2019
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08Oct

UK. ESG requirements after 1 October 2019

ESG is not a new concept, but in the run up to the 1 October 2019 deadline for trustees to include changes to occupational pension scheme statements of investment principles (SIPs), many trustees will have become more aware of ESG. In this article we consider what other changes are on the horizon. What is ESG? As a recap ESG relates to taking into account environmental, social and governance considerations that affect returns on investment, whether positively or negatively. What changes have we...

October 8, 2019
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08Oct

4 reasons the corporate pension is on its deathbed

General Electric's move to significantly lower its pension liabilities is simply the latest in a sweeping corporate pivot away from guaranteed retirement benefits. GE on Monday announced that it would offer lump-sum pension buyouts to about 100,000 former U.S. employees who have not yet begun receiving their pensions.  The company, which has been facing pressure to bolster its finances, also announced plans to freeze pension benefits for about 20,700 salaried pensioners at current levels. Taken together, the moves illustrate how corporate America has largely ditched pensions,...

October 8, 2019
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07Oct

Norway’s largest pension fund KLP exits oil sands companies

KLP, Norway’s largest pension fund, will no longer invest in companies deriving their income from oil sands, and recently sold stocks and bonds in such firms worth about $58 million, it said on Monday. Oil sands have been a focal point of environmental groups’ global efforts to stifle energy production from fossil fuels, saying they take an especially large toll on the environment. KLP’s decision affects five companies, which were added to its exclusion list: Canada’s Cenovus Energy, Suncor...

October 7, 2019
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02Oct

Japan. World’s Largest Pension Fund Reappoints Mizuno as CIO

Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund reappointed Hiromichi Mizuno as its investment chief overseeing $1.47 trillion in assets. Mizuno, whose term was extended to March 31 after expiring Monday, captained sweeping changes to the investment strategy of the world’s largest pension fund over the past five years. He became the GPIF’s first chief investment officer in January 2015, managing the fund’s shift to stocks from domestic debt, while advocating assets that incorporate environmental, social and governance factors. The fund will...

October 2, 2019
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01Oct

UK’s new ESG pension rules are just the first step: PLSA

New disclosure rules relating to UK pension funds’ consideration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors and engagement with investee companies should be seen as a first step in an “ESG journey for trustees”, according to the industry’s main trade group. Under the changes, which come into effect tomorrow, trustees must outline their approach to engagement with and voting of their shares in investee companies, and how they take account of financially material factors, including ESG and climate change considerations, in...

October 1, 2019
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September 2019

27Sep

Corporate Governance and Value Creation in Japan: Prescriptions for Boosting Roe

By Ryohei Yanagi This is the first book to furnish a root cause of the low valuation of Japanese listed companies by using, as qualitative evidence, unique global investor surveys, which are rarely available for Japanese companies. Also contained in this book as quantitative evidence is empirical research with regression analysis implying a positive correlation between corporate governance and value creation in Japan. The author explains the rationale underlying the suggestion of the Ito Review on return on equity...

September 27, 2019
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13Sep

How Making Smart Financial Decisions Can Have a Positive Impact on Climate Change

There’s a lot of responsibility that comes with managing a fund with $1.5 trillion in assets—a responsibility that Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), the largest pension fund in the world, faces every day. We have more than 5,000 stocks and 3,400 bond issuers in our portfolio, and the fund is designed to operate with a 100-year, multi­generational time frame. Unlike investors with a shorter time horizon, we consider climate change to be a systemic risk affecting the entire...

September 13, 2019
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