June 2024
25Jun

Morningstar launches index tracking LGBTQ+ inclusive companies

The new Morningstar Developed Markets LGBTQ+ Leaders Index is designed to deliver exposure to 100 large and mid-cap companies from across regions and sectors that demonstrate strong LGBTQ+ inclusive policies and practices. Companies are screened for controversial product involvement, UN Global Compact compliance, and severe ESG controversies using Morningstar Sustainalytics leading ESG data and research and are then ranked by ExecuPride score and size with the 100 highest scorers making it into the index. “We are thrilled to add this new...

June 25, 2024
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24Jun

U.K. pension funds oppose dual-class voting proposed by regulators

U.K. pension funds and asset owners with a collective £136.2 billion ($173.2 billion) oppose reforms to U.K. listings that would allow for dual-class share structures that carry separate levels of voting rights. Dual-class share structures are already prevalent in other markets, such as the U.S. and Sweden. More than 40% of U.S. technology initial public offerings used dual-class structures between 2020 and 2022, according to a report by the Investor Coalition for Equal Votes. In a signed a letter to Ashley...

June 24, 2024
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24Jun

German Allianz to invest in China’s mega pension company with 2% stake

 Allianz Global Investors (AGI), one of the investment arms of German insurer Allianz, has become the first foreign company to own a stake in China's pension insurance giant Guomin Pension. AGI was allowed to subscribe to newly issued shares representing 2% in the company, and the stake is worth 228 million yuan ($31.40 million), the pension firm said in a statement issued Monday. Guomin Pension, jointly launched by China's largest banks and insurers, was established in 2022 to promote the development...

June 24, 2024
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19Jun

How Retirement Investments Align With Long-Term Environmental Goals

What do retirement plan sponsors and sustainable investors have in common? A focus on the long term. We explore how different asset classes, particularly real assets, can be aligned with long-term climate-related objectives, such as reducing carbon footprints to net zero. By extension, we suggest ways for retirement plan sponsors—whether in the defined benefit or defined contribution space—to align their investments with increasingly common sustainable climate goals. Key takeaways Climate-related risks and opportunities are present in virtually all asset classes, but...

June 19, 2024
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18Jun

Thailand pension fund GPF studies asset allocation to seek resilient traits, report says

Thailand’s Government Pension Fund (GPF) is conducting a study on its strategic asset allocation strategy to identify characteristics of assets that can be resilient to risks over the next three years, Songpol Chevapanyaroj, secretary-general of the pension fund for civil servants, says in an interview with the Bangkok Post. The study is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter. “The difficulty in investment allocation is you cannot fully rely on either domestic or foreign investments,” Songpol is quoted as saying in...

June 18, 2024
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17Jun

Japan’s Kishida says no plan for pension fund to buy BOJ’s ETF holdings

apanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Monday he has no plan for the government's pension fund to buy the central bank's holdings of exchange-traded funds (ETF). "The Bank of Japan holds ETFs as part of its monetary policy efforts to achieve its price target. It's up to the central bank to decide on how to load the holdings," Kishida told parliament. "The government has no plan to request or instruct GPIF to buy the central bank's ETF holdings," he said. Kishida...

June 17, 2024
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14Jun

LGBTQ and finance

By Sanjukta Brahma, Konstantinos Gavriilidis, Vasileios Kallinterakis, Thanos Verousis & Mengyu Zhang Recent changes in workplace and corporate board diversity policies and a series of court rulings have signalled a fundamental change in the treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (henceforth LGBTQ) people in the corporate world. In this paper, we survey the burgeoning literature on the role of sexual orientation in finance. Studies show that there is a positive relationship between the adoption of LGBTQ-friendly policies and...

June 14, 2024
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14Jun

UK. Labour manifesto confirms key pension priorities

The Labour Party has shared its 2024 manifesto, confirming plans to conduct a pensions review if elected, to consider what further steps are needed to improve security in retirement, and increase productive investment in the UK economy. In its manifesto, Labour said that it will act to increase investment from pension funds in UK markets, by adopting reforms to ensure that workplace pension schemes take advantage of consolidation and scale, and to deliver better returns for UK savers and greater...

June 14, 2024
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11Jun

US Pension Fund’s Interest in Bitcoin: FOMO or a Future-Proof Strategy?

The State of Wisconsin Investment Board recently announced the purchase of $99 million worth of IBIT shares, BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF. This marks the first investment in Bitcoin ETF shares by a public pension fund. While this is the first time a state pension has bought shares of a Bitcoin ETF, it’s not the first bitcoin investment by a pension fund. In October 2021, the Houston Firefighters' Relief and Retirement Fund acquired an undisclosed amount of BTC through institutional bitcoin...

June 11, 2024
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05Jun

Expert panel: How transition investments can help institutional investors reach net zero

Driven by the net-zero pledge towards green investments, institutional investors are finding themselves uncomfortably wedged between a rock and a hard place. If they invest exclusively in green assets and earn lower returns than the broader stock market benchmark, as was the case in 2023 for environmental, social and governance funds, they’re criticized for underperforming. But if they invest a small portion of the portfolio in brown firms, investors face recrimination for greenwashing. Also rubbing salt into the wound is the...

June 5, 2024
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