July 2022
25Jul

The Growth In Responsible Investment Funds

The concept of socially responsible investing (SRI) has been around for hundreds of years. From the Quakers (aka, the Religious Society of Friends) prohibiting members from participating in the slave trade in 1758 to the exclusion of “sin stocks” in the 1920s to supporting the civil rights, environmental, social, and anti-war movements in the 1960s to the modern day focus on Environmental, Social, and Governance investing practices—which takes a holistic view that helps stakeholders understand how an organization manages...

July 25, 2022
News, ,
Read more...
22Jul

Pension Fund Environmental, Social and Governance Risk Disclosures: Developing Global Practice

By International Actuarial Association  The paper summarizes the main features and trends in pension fund Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) risk disclosures around the world available to regulators, members and the public. It includes reference to statutory requirements, general practice and voluntary disclosures in relation to pension fund accounts and other documents made available to members, such as benefit/fund statements. We discuss the financial and reputational risks which ESG issues can present to pension fund investments and to long-term performance. We refer...

July 22, 2022
Books, Investing, , ,
Read more...
20Jul

Brazilian insurance regulator publishes guidelines on sustainability requirements for the insurance sector

The Brazilian Superintendence of Private Insurance (“SUSEP”) published Regulation No. 666/2022, setting forth sustainability requirements applicable to the Brazilian insurance sector. Its goal is to establish guidelines for management of risks that are directly related to ESG policies of insurance and capitalization companies, local reinsurers and pension funds. Pursuant to the new requirements, regulated entities must ensure that sustainability risks are properly managed, particularly by preparing a triennial materiality assessment identifying, assessing and classifying the risks to which the entities...

July 20, 2022
News, , ,
Read more...
12Jul

Pension Funds Forge Ahead With Sustainable Investing, Despite Politicization

Even as sustainable investing becomes a political football, pension funds and other asset owners in Europe and North America are adopting sustainable investment practices for their portfolios, according to a study by Morningstar Indexes. The “Voice of the Asset Owner” survey was based on 14 interviews with asset owners. They generally saw investing using environmental, social, and governance metrics “as a core element of investing rather than a specialist niche,” according to the study. The respondents said their use of ESG...

July 12, 2022
News, ,
Read more...
08Jul

Measurement of ESG Performance: A Study of Indian Companies

By Preeti Sharma, Priyanka Pandey, Vijay Kumar Jain & R. C. Dangwal The present study aims to construct an inclusive, Literature-based, and statistically vetted environmental, social and corporate governance disclosure (ESGD) index, measure the item-wise, theme-wise, and factor-wise ESG performance of the top 80 Indian companies for the period 2013-2016, and examine item-wise, theme-wise and factor-wise variations in ESGD. Content analysis is used to measure the ESG disclosures of the sample companies. To test the variations, skewness, kurtosis, Levene’s, Chi-square,...

July 8, 2022
Articles, Sustainability, , ,
Read more...
08Jul

Prioritising sustainability and responsible investing in finance

Sustainability is not a separate strategy at KBC Asset Management, but an integral part of the overall workings of the KBC Group. As such, sustainability is embedded in KBC’s corporate strategy, central to our relationship with our clients as we strive to offer them a unique bank-insurance experience. We are convinced that our strategy – powered by our business culture and the contributions made by our people – is instrumental in earning, keeping and growing trust day by day. It’s...

July 8, 2022
News, , ,
Read more...

June 2022
27Jun

Could ESG improve scheme engagement?

Industry Voice: A major survey carried out by Aegon shows pension savers care deeply about climate change and the environment Aegon's recent survey of around 10,000 UK residents shows that most pension investors care deeply about the environment and their world's future. It also suggests that the more someone's investments are helping the climate emergency, the more likely they are to be happy about their investments and be better engaged with their pension arrangements. But too many customers remain unaware...

June 27, 2022
News, ,
Read more...
24Jun

Greening Pensions: A Behavioural Perspective

By Alice Farrell, Kristina Londakova, Izzy Brennan, Jake Reynolds & Toby Park Through their pensions, the vast majority of people in the UK are investors, with pension pots collectively amounting to over £2.6 trillion.1 Investing a greater portion of this money sustainably - i.e. in businesses who have positive or neutral impacts on the environment and green technologies – could significantly accelerate our transition to a low-carbon society. While 68% of people say they would like their investments to be responsible...

June 24, 2022
Books, Investment, Pension design, Pension Management, , , , ,
Read more...
24Jun

New UK trial seeks to ‘nudge’ people into making greener pension choices

A new trial to encourage people to learn more about making greener pension choices in the UK has been launched. Dubbed the ‘Green Nudge’, the trial will test the impact of behavioural nudges and messages on increasing saver engagement with the sustainability of pension investments and how it could translate into greener pension decision-making. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is working in partnership with the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT), Aviva, Smart Pension and Hargreaves Lansdown to deliver the “nudges”...

June 24, 2022
News, , , ,
Read more...
23Jun

US. BlackRock offers feedback to SEC on climate-risk disclosure proposal

BlackRock, which embraces climate-conscious investing and is pushing other companies to do the same, still supports the rules proposed by the SEC requiring climate-related disclosures from public companies. But the money manager has some notes for the regulator. In a June 17 letter to the SEC, BlackRock reiterated its belief that "climate risk is investment risk" and that related disclosures aligned with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures framework should be mandated. However, the firm does not agree with...

June 23, 2022
News, , ,
Read more...