August 2022
05Aug

Green bonds poised for revival after shaky start to 2022 — report

Green bond issuance got off to a shaky start in 2022, but picked up in the second quarter, according to data from the Climate Bonds Initiative published on Thursday . The investor-focused non-profit organization promotes large-scale investment in the low-carbon economy. It screens self-labeled green bonds, including green, social, sustainability, sustainability-linked and transition labeled debt. In the first half of 2022, issuance of bonds aligned with international climate targets reached a combined volume of $417.8 billion, a 27% drop from the...

August 5, 2022
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04Aug

Kenya. Risk-averse pension schemes bag higher returns

Pension funds that eschew risk are reaping the benefits of their conservative approach to investments, outperforming their more aggressive peers whose returns are being dented by bigger exposure to underperforming equities and offshore assets. Conservative schemes, which on average allocate over 80 percent of their assets under management to risk-free, stable yielding government securities, recorded a return of 2.9 percent in the year to June 2022, industry analysis done by fund administrator Zamara shows. Schemes with a moderate approach to investment,...

August 4, 2022
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03Aug

Africa’s Largest Asset Manager PIC Leads Pension Funds Investing in Continent’s Infrastructure via AFC

In a significant milestone for African pension capital being deployed for domestic infrastructure and industrial development, the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), Africa’s largest asset manager, with over US$150 billion in assets under management, plans an inaugural investment in the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), the continent’s leading infrastructure solutions provider. Read also Kenya. Risk-averse pension schemes bag higher returns PIC has given formal notification to make a US$100 million equity investment in the AFC. The approved investment from the South African pension...

August 3, 2022
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02Aug

UK. Oxford, FCA team up on sustainable finance lab

The U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority is partnering with the Oxford Sustainable Finance Group on an innovation lab for ESG practitioners and regulators. Announced July 20, the Oxford Sustainable Finance Lab is scheduled to open in the fall at Oxford University in England. Oxford researchers will spend time with practitioners from financial institutions, regulators, central banks, government departments and professional organizations. The goal is "nurturing interactions between different parts of the financial system and (to) break down barriers between them, providing a...

August 2, 2022
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02Aug

The evolution of sustainability in equity investing

Equity as an asset class has a long history rooted in sustainability and shareholder engagement. Even in the 19th century, equity investors used voting and engagement to influence how companies behave. Efficient use of capital, dividend policy, and strategy were typically on the agenda. In the 1970s, equity investors started considering ethical values, triggered by global abhorrence of South Africa’s apartheid regime. In the nineties, initial ethical screenings expanded to embed environmental, social and governance factors in capital market decisions....

August 2, 2022
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02Aug

Canada’s CPPIB turns attention to stocks in hunt for value

Canada's $421 billion state pension fund has shifted its attention toward public equities from private deals after a sell-off in the first half boosted valuations, according to its top executive. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is one of the world's largest institutional investors in private equity, with more than $100 billion invested directly in private companies and through funds. But in recent months, "we've been active in the public equity space, even in places like infrastructure and real estate," CEO...

August 2, 2022
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01Aug

U.S. 6-month period brings financial storm for many

Defined contribution money managers, like their plan sponsor clients and the millions of U.S. workers who save for retirement with them, are navigating a much different world in mid-2022 than they did at the end of 2021. "Certainly, these six months have been very different than last year and the year before, which is really quite a statement when you think that in the last two years we were in the middle of a pandemic," said Anne F. Ackerley, New...

August 1, 2022
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July 2022
29Jul

Impact Investing: Measuring Social and Financial Returns

Although the field of impact investing has experienced astounding growth over the past decade, there remain concerns about its ability to generate both outsized financial and social returns. Can investors achieve their desired social or environmental impact without sacrificing their financial goals? What are the differences between ESG, sustainable investing, and impact investing? How do investors evaluate impact? To better understand what an effective impact investing strategy might look like, SSIR publisher Michael Gordon Voss speaks with Juliette Menga,...

July 29, 2022
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27Jul

It’s good more funds are looking to become environmentally friendly, but this could lead to greenwashing

There have been a large number of funds rebranding recently to include the phrase sustainable or ESG in their name, which raises suspicions about the potential for greenwashing – not the kind of recycling that climate crisis campaigners had in mind. Greenwashing is used to describe the way funds may claim “green’” credentials to improve their environmental, social and governance appeal to investors. By adding the phrase ESG to an existing funds it’s a bit like a company creating a huge...

July 27, 2022
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27Jul

UK. Pension savers prioritise returns over ‘investment big bang’

Less than a fifth of pension savers think that investing their pensions in companies or assets that would benefit their local area should be prioritised, research has revealed. The findings from the Centre for Progressive Policy, published on July 25, jars with the government’s push to channel pension fund money into domestic infrastructure. Last year, prime minister Boris Johnson and then-chancellor Rishi Sunak published a letter calling for an “investment big bang”, making comparisons with pension fund investment in Australia and...

July 27, 2022
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