By Liam Kennedy Europe has lofty ambitions as it positions the European Green Deal as Europe’s growth plan for the coming decade and beyond. There is much to do to promote sustainability in Europe and the EU can undoubtedly blaze a trail. But the incoming Commission will also need to maintain its focus on the Capital Markets Union (CMU), the flagship economic policy of the previous Commission. One element of the CMU as announced in 2014 was indeed to foster...
By Brad M. Barber, Adair Morse, Ayako Yasuda We document that investors derive nonpecuniary utility from investing in dual-objective VC funds, thus sacrificing returns. Impact funds earn 4.7 percentage points (ppts) lower IRRs ex post than traditional VC funds. In random utility/willingness-to-pay (WTP) models investors accept 2.5-3.7 ppts lower IRRs ex ante for impact funds. The positive WTP result is robust to fund access rationing and investor heterogeneity in fund expected returns. Development organizations, foundations, financial institutions, public pensions,...
At the end of May, Citadele Bank’s subsidiary, CBL Asset Management, created Latvia’s first pension plan whose pension savings are invested in businesses which are the most sustainable in their respective industries: protecting the environment, taking care of their employees and acting responsibly in the long term. In just over six months, Latvia’s first pension plan based on responsible investments has been able to attract a relatively large amount of attention from the public, and currently, total assets have...
As world leaders converge at this week’s climate summit in Madrid to debate how best to shift to a net zero-economy, Michael Sabia is leaving the helm of Canada’s second-largest pension plan having firmly placed Quebec’s retirement savings at the forefront of the global movement for low-carbon investing. Sabia, who recently announced he’s stepping down from the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) in early 2020, ushered in a fundamental change in how the $326 billion Quebec...
Although in its initial stages and faced with challenges, opportunities in ESG investing are rising in Asia. Thanks to a governmental push as well as growing ESG awareness and compliance among institutional investors, sustainability is quickly picking up in Asia, though challenges still exist. Featuring Christopher Hui, executive director, Financial Services Development Council; Karine Hirn, partner, chief sustainability officer, East Capital; William Ng, ESG engagement analyst, investment team, HSBC Global Asset Management; and Paul Milon, sustainability and ESG integration specialist, BNP...
Management of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has indicated its intention to continue engaging the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) and other key stakeholders concerning recent agitations on the computation of past credit of contributors who are due for retirement effective January 1, 2020. Read also Nigeria: Court Orders Govt to Recover Pensions Paid to Ex-Governors Who Serve As Ministers, Senators Already, the NPRA has mandated the Trust to further compile a report on computation of past...
European Union's Finance Minister opposed ECB's negative rates policy in a confidential meeting. Negative rates have started to hurt the savings and pensions systems. Monetary policy’s banking transmission channels may also be threatened. Fabio Panetta says the benefits of low-rates policy outweigh the risks for now. Forex market has not responded lucratively to the recent proceedings at the ECB. President Trump has reiterated his support for the European Central Bank’s (ECB) negative rates policy on multiple occasions. Following the...
By Craig Berry This article offers a detailed analysis of the recent history of pensions policy in the United Kingdom, culminating in two apparent `revolutions' in policy now underway: the introduction of `automatic enrolment' into private pensions, and proposals for a new `single-tier' state pension. These reforms are considered exemplary of the `financialisation' of UK welfare provision -- typified in pensions policy by the notion that individuals must take personal responsibility for their own long-term financial security, and engage intimately...
By Erik Schouten & Thurstan Robinson In February 2012, the UK minister for pensions proposed that companies should perhaps be able to provide a new type of pension – Defi ned Aspiration pensions or Defi ned Ambition (DA) pensions, as they are called in the Netherlands. In this article, we take a closer look at DA pensions, examining the Dutch experiences to date with the introduction of DA pensions . We look at what DA pensions have to offer employers...
By Edward L. Glaeser, Giacomo A M Ponzetto Why do public-sector workers receive so much of their compensation in the form of pensions and other benefits? This paper presents a political economy model in which politicians compete for taxpayers' and government employees' votes by promising compensation packages, but some voters cannot evaluate every aspect of promised compensation. If pension packages are "shrouded," so that public-sector workers better understand their value than ordinary taxpayers, then compensation will be highly back-loaded. In...
