January 2022
04Jan

Markers of impact that investors will be watching in the year ahead

There’s no permission required, no excuses accepted, and no better time for impact investors to step up to leadership. The pathways to climate solutions are clear, the returns on inclusion immense. To be sure, government leadership can accelerate deployment, but the case for private investment is more than compelling. ImpactAlpha’s team of reporters and editors has counted down nearly two dozen markers of impact across our core coverage areas.   The Reconstruction in 2022 No. 22. A bottom-up and top-down mobilization to rewrite...

January 4, 2022
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03Jan

Private climate investment needs to get intentional about gender and equity — here’s how

By Suzanne Biegel The private capital committed by members of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) has the potential to transform climate investments. Yet climate investment decision-makers don’t reflect the diversity we need for a just transition. They are therefore likely to overlook the women outside of their networks driving many solutions. Read also ESG Investing Is Not Sustainable Investing This is true in both developed and developing markets. Growing research shows that having more women in decision-making positions results...

January 3, 2022
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December 2021
31Dec

Pension And Sovereign Wealth Funds Eye Crypto As Regulators Focus On A Global Crypto Framework

Nothing indicates the ascendance of an asset in the financial system more than a pension fund investing in it. It is the ultimate signal of arrival. The Houston Firefighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund (HFRRF) announced in 2021 that it was investing $25 million in bitcoin, the first time a U.S. pension fund invested in cryptocurrencies. The HFRRF investment is in collaboration with NYDIG through a customized private fund managed by NYDIG, the cryptoasset manager that just completed a $1 billion...

December 31, 2021
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30Dec

ETF investors want impact with ESG allocations, survey finds

Investors are aligning themselves with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) when allocating to ESG, according to a survey conducted by ETF Stream and Amundi. The survey of 105 investors across Europe, which featured in a report of initial findings titled ETF Scan: The Big Picture, found 35% of respondents said they want ESG exposure linked to either impact or the 17 SDGs, the most across all responses. This highlights the use case for thematic ETFs which can offer targeted...

December 30, 2021
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29Dec

Choice Overload? Participation and Asset Allocation in French Employer-Sponsored Saving Plans

By Marie Briere, James M. Poterba & Ariane Szafarz This paper employs administrative data from one of the largest plan providers in France to investigate the role of plan and default characteristics in affecting whether employees participate in the plan and whether they accept its default investment option. The dataset includes information on the saving choices of 680,392 active employees at 1,610 firms. French employers have wide discretion in structuring employee saving plans. All plans must offer medium-term investments, which...

December 29, 2021
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29Dec

What Drives Variation in Investor Portfolios? Evidence from Retirement Plans

By Mark Egan, Alexander MacKay & Hanbin Yang We study empirical patterns in investment behavior using a comprehensive data set of defined contribution plans. Using plan-level portfolio allocation data for the near universe of 401(k) plans over the period 2009-2019, we document substantial differences in investment behavior across plans. Plans with wealthier and more educated participants tend to have higher equity exposure while plans with more retirees and minorities tend to have lower equity exposure. These patterns cannot be explained...

December 29, 2021
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29Dec

US. Rising Inflation Viewed as Biggest Threat to Retirement in 2022

While Americans worried most about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, they now see rising inflation as the biggest risk to their retirement plans. According to Allianz Life’s annual New Year’s Resolutions Study, nearly half (48%) of respondents identified the pandemic as the most worrisome threat of 2021. However, in looking ahead to 2022, a full one-quarter of Americans now view rising inflation as the single greatest risk to their retirement plans—more than doubling from 2020, when only...

December 29, 2021
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29Dec

The Elevated Economy: Why Investors And Companies Can’t Ignore ESG

By Richard Steel Over time, public companies will be forced to take stances on environmental, social and governance issues, pressured by shareholders, public opinion, clients and customers. I believe the same will be true with pension funds and endowments. Just look at the activism around the Harvard endowment and the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, which manages Norway’s assets and is dropping $13 billion of fossil fuel investments. Not only companies but also consumers are embracing — even demanding — an...

December 29, 2021
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23Dec

US. 3 NYC pension funds divest $3 billion from fossil fuels

Three of five pension funds in the $266.7 billion New York City Retirement Systems have divested about $3 billion in fossil fuel company holdings, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer announced Wednesday. The divestment "is proof positive that environmental and fiscal responsibility go hand-in-hand," Mr. Stringer, the fiduciary of the five pension funds in the city system, said in a news release. "New York City is leading the way toward a clean, green and sustainable economy, and the impacts of...

December 23, 2021
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21Dec

US. PennPSERS pushes $1.1 billion into alternatives

Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System, Harrisburg, announced $1.1 billion in new alternative fund commitments. The $72.5 billion pension fund's board at its Dec. 17 meeting approved commitments of $300 million to Brookfield Global Transition Fund, a real assets fund investing across sectors including industrials, renewable power and utilities, managed by Brookfield Asset Management; €200 million ($226 million) to ICG Europe Fund VIII SCSp, a mezzanine fund managed by Intermediate Capital Group; and $125 million to Bain Capital Special Situations...

December 21, 2021
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