More comment – Page 15
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Opinion PiecesGreen bonds – a ‘no-brainer’ paragon
Institutional investors are constantly searching for the elusive ‘no-brainer’ investment: the one that offers clear additional benefits without additional risk
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: Super funds: shame in a name
Named and shamed! Thirteen Australian superannuation funds have been forced to inform their million-plus members that they have failed an inaugural superannuation performance test mandated by the financial regulator, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).
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Opinion PiecesLetter from US: University endowments setting the pace on fossil fuel divestment
US university and college endowments control more than $600bn (€517bn) of investments. Their policies often influence the behaviour of public pensions. So it is interesting to see whether Harvard’s recent decision to end its investments in fossil fuels will be followed not only by other universities but also by retirement systems.
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FeaturesSaudi Arabia at the crossroads
As the liberal democracies of the world resign themselves to dealing with the aftermath of the US pull-out from Afghanistan, they face the fact that, as former UK prime minister Tony Blair stated recently, “despite the decline in terrorist attacks, Islamism, both the ideology and the violence, is a first-order security threat”.
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Opinion PiecesEngagement, divestment and emerging alternatives
Investment analysts make contrasting buy and sell recommendations for individual securities based on identical financial information – down to the last decimal point. The differential is judgement.
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Opinion PiecesCo-investment newcomers need to be selective
The US and UK are seeing a diminishing number of companies in the listed markets whilst the private equity (PE) markets are booming. For investors, that raises a number of issues, of which fees are an important one. Private equity fees are much higher than those of listed equity managers.
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Opinion PiecesNotes from Germany: Parties mull pensions
It all started with a selfie posted on social media. The leaders of the Green party Annalena Baerbock, candidate to be chancellor, and Robert Habeck posed with the Free Democrats’ Christian Lindner and Volker Wissing to show how serious they were to bridge the divide to form a new government coalition, prior to meeting with the winner of the election, the SDP’s Olaf Scholz.
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Opinion PiecesGuest viewpoint: Alex Edmans
Tariq Fancy, former chief investment officer for sustainable investing at BlackRock, claimed in a March 2021 USA Today op-ed that “Wall Street is greenwashing the financial world, making sustainable investing merely PR, which is a distraction from the problem of climate change”.
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Why we need deforestation-free portfolios by 2025
‘If we are to address climate change, we need to put an end to deforestation’
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Opinion PiecesAn alternative pensions future
It’s no real news that ageing is changing our society in numerous ways – from simple things like product design (making smart phones for older eyes and fingers to use) to more generationally diverse workplaces.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: Public places, private matters
AustralianSuper marked a milestone with its successful takeover in 2019 of education provider, Navitas, for A$2.1bn (€1.3bn).
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Book ReviewBooks: COVID: The first 10 weeks
Ten Weeks into COVID-19: Psyche, Money and Narratives: An interpretation of the crisis, Pascal Blanqué, Economica, 2021
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Opinion PiecesGuest Viewpoint: The climate is ripe for change
If there is to be a successful transition to a net- zero global economy, trillions of dollars need to be invested in renewable energy generation, electricity transmission and storage systems, and energy efficiency. The need is for fresh money. At scale.
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Dump fossil fuels?
It is unrealistic to expect energy to become cheaper in the months to come
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: We cannot let the fear of greenwashing impede real change
You could be forgiven for thinking greenwashing is everywhere
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Opinion PiecesPolicy underpins action
Politicians in a variety of different places understandably want to harness the capital of institutional investors. Dutch and UK politicians in particular have made no secret of their desire for local pension funds to invest for domestic ends.
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Opinion PiecesOpportunities beyond the traditional approach to PE
The many thousands of fast-growing small and mid-sized companies globally represent the potential giants of tomorrow, and also provide a fertile hunting ground for those seeking superior investment opportunities.
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Opinion Pieces
Notes from the Netherlands: Truly Paris aligned
A milestone was reached in July when the first Dutch pension fund announced its divestment from fossil fuels. Surprisingly, the fund in question was neither civil service scheme ABP nor healthcare fund PFZW, the two largest Dutch funds, both of which have the ambition to be leaders in sustainable and responsible.
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Opinion PiecesNorway SWF’s net-zero plans under scrutiny
Last month the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund – Government Pension Fund Global – was reprimanded by several industry experts and economists for not having yet joined the United Nations-convened Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: Too good to be true?
If Australia’s latest five-yearly Intergenerational Report (IGR) is to be taken seriously, Australian retirees can look forward to comfortable retirements 40 years hence.
