April 2022

Environmental, Social and Governance Considerations in Pension Plans
28Apr

Environmental, Social and Governance Considerations in Pension Plans

By Paul Williams & Elizabeth Harker Speaking at the United Nations Climate Change Conference ("COP26") in October 2021, the UK Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Thérèse Coffey, said that pension schemes can become a "superpower" in fighting climate change and propelling the world to net zero. But to what extent does the legal landscape within which pension schemes operate allow them to perform this role, and indeed to what extent should they be performing this role? Here in the...

April 28, 2022
Articles, Investment, Pension Management, , ,
Read more...

March 2022

Climate campaigners condemn award to East Sussex Pension Fund
31Mar

Climate campaigners condemn award to East Sussex Pension Fund

Climate campaigners have condemned the decision to give an award for ‘LGPS [Local Government Pension Scheme] Fund of the Year’ to the East Sussex Pension Fund, saying that the Fund has failed one of the most basic litmus tests for such an award: namely, a public commitment to fully divest from the giant fossil fuel (oil, coal and gas) companies that are driving the climate crisis. The award was bestowed at the ‘LAPF [Local Authority Pension Fund] Investments Awards’...

March 31, 2022
News, , ,
Read more...
Sustainable Investment & Asset Management: From Resistance to Retooling
25Mar

Sustainable Investment & Asset Management: From Resistance to Retooling

By Virginia E. Harper Ho Globally, market demand is rising for investment products and practices that take “environmental, social, and governance” (ESG) factors into account, challenging asset managers and capital markets to adapt in new ways. This chapter outlines why sustainability issues are increasingly relevant to mainstream asset owners and asset managers. It then explores the evolving regulatory landscape for sustainable investment in the U.S., focusing on the degree to which it supports or facilitates ESG integration into investment management...

March 25, 2022
Articles, Pension Management, , ,
Read more...
Engagement essential for schemes to turn the tide on plastic waste
18Mar

Engagement essential for schemes to turn the tide on plastic waste

The role pension schemes play in overcoming plastic pollution is multifaceted, and communicating it with members only adds another layer of complexity, experts warn. Read also Global Pension Asset Values Grow to Record $56 Trillion in 2021 The transition to net zero requires a multifaceted approach over how we use non-renewable materials. Up to 12.7mn tonnes of plastic enter the oceans each year causing damage to marine life and ecosystems, according to the journal Science, and while the scale of the...

March 18, 2022
News, Slider, ,
Read more...
17Mar

A Descriptive Analysis on Effect of Corporate Governance on Investor’s Decision

By Dsouza Prima Frederick The article studies the impact of internal factors and external factors influencing an investor’s investment decision. The information for the study was obtained from secondary sources like journal papers, magazines and books. Human psychology has an internal role in investing choice, whereas corporate governance is an external influence. Corporate governance plays a major role in the investment decision-making process by revealing all elements of business information, but investors understand the information according to their own assessments and assumptions...

March 17, 2022
Artículos, Investment, ,
Read more...
11Mar

UK. Pension schemes still playing ‘catch-up’ on ESG despite increased awareness

Just 10 per cent of pension schemes have a standalone policy on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, research from Mercer has revealed, prompting concerns that pension schemes are playing 'catch-up' on improving ESG outcomes. The analysis, which utilised data from Mercer’s Responsible Investment Total Evaluation (Rite) analysis of more than 650 UK occupational pension schemes, also revealed that only 6 per cent of schemes have a standalone policy related specifically to climate change. And whilst stewardship was carried out for...

March 11, 2022
News, Slider, , , ,
Read more...

February 2022
17Feb

Global Pension Assets Study – 2022

By Thinking Ahead Institute The Global Pension Assets Study estimates global pension fund assets across 22 major pension markets (the P22). These geographies now total a record US$56.6 trillion in pension assets and account for 76% of the GDP of these economies. The study, conducted by WTW and the Thinking Ahead Institute since the 1990s, includes an analysis of the seven largest markets (the P7): Australia, Canada, Japan, Netherlands, Switzerland, UK and US comprise 92% of total pension assets, unchanged...

February 17, 2022
Books, Investment, Pension Management, , , , ,
Read more...
02Feb

​Pension funds neglect human capital when setting investment policy, say experts

Pension funds should always take into account human capital, or the career perspective of their members, when determining how much risk they can take with their investments. But they too often fail to do this, according to experts. The degree of certainty of future labour income affects the risk capacity of pension participants; the more predictable and stable their income, the more risk they can shoulder, argued Thomas Pistorius, a risk manager at Pensioenfonds Vervoer, the €37bn fund for the...

February 2, 2022
News, Slider, , ,
Read more...

January 2022
27Jan

UK. Can the FCA tackle greenwashing?

For those who care about environmental, social and governance considerations, watching the glacial progress towards standardised ESG disclosures has been frustrating. There are more working groups, task forces, frameworks and roadmaps than you could shake a stick at (I have never tried shaking a stick at a working group, and it would probably get me fired, but you get the idea). Dare I suggest that we might even spare some sympathy for the Financial Conduct Authority, which has the job of...

January 27, 2022
News, Slider, , , ,
Read more...
26Jan

US. DC Pension Faces Whistleblower Suit Alleging Investment Fee Misreporting, ‘Toxic Culture’

A whistleblower has filed a lawsuit against the District of Columbia Retirement Board alleging that it retaliated against her for saying that the fund wrongly reported investment management fees and was not monitoring private investment agreements. The lawsuit was filed by Erie Sampson, the fund’s general counsel and ethics counselor, in Washington, D.C. on December 30. The lawsuit describes a “toxic culture of fear and retaliation” at DCRB and alleged the pension fund had audit and compliance issues, which could be...

January 26, 2022
News, Slider, ,
Read more...