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Strategy
UK’s transition-focused SWF gets green light
UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves didn’t waste any time approving the UK’s new SWF aimed at funding the energy transition. As it begins to lay down structure and governance frameworks critics point to the challenges of bringing projects to a level where they are investable.
Investor Profile
Private equity: Florida SBA mulls CFOs as alternative to secondaries
Florida State Board of Administration (SBA) is exploring innovative new strategies in its private equity portfolio like Collateralized Fund Obligations and “NAV loans” to tap liquidity and reposition the portfolio as an alternative to selling in the secondaries market.
Investor Profile
Profiting from war: Europe’s pension funds mull investing in defence
PensionDanmark says its decision to invest in ships for the Danish navy has been prompted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Other European pension funds are under pressure from policy makers to invest in defence but the sector doesn't sit comfortably with ESG priorities.
Sustainability
AP2 finds gender diversity takes backward steps at Swedish corporates
The proportion of female board members overseeing listed Swedish companies has edged downwards in the past year, currently back to 2022 levels. AP2's Female Representation Index finds some way to go until companies reach the goal of 40 per cent women on the boards.
Investor Profile
UN pension fund slashes equity and pushes into impact and venture
The United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF) recently reduced the allocation to equity in its $92.5 billion portfolio in what Pedro Guazo, representative of the secretary-general (RSG) for the investment of the UNJSPF assets, describes as a conservative strategic allocation in response to the overvaluation in tech.
InFocus
Tip of the A-iceberg as investors grapple with the scale of opportunity
An investment theme that incorporates all traditional businesses trying to exploit technology, including AI, is simply too broad. Focusing on AI alone leaves investors exposed to the uncertainty of future developments. In between is an approach that recognises AI as an accelerant to existing trends.
Investor Profile
CalPERS’ plan to generate alpha from climate investments
CalPERS’ sustainable investment strategy is predicated on a belief it can generate outperformance by investing in climate solutions – with $100 billion to be allocated by 2030. Peter Cashion, managing investment director for sustainable investments tells Amanda White why, and how, it looks for climate alpha opportunities.
Investor Profile
Temasek says structural demand and geopolitical risk impacting China
Singapore's Temasek explains why it has a cautious approach to investment in China and highlights the growing size of its allocation to private markets.
Investor Profile
How abundant inflows have put New Mexico’s SIC in a bind
New Mexico's oil fund is 10 per cent overweight cash and bonds relative to target in a reflection of the challenges CIO Vince Smith faces putting money to work. Equities are over valued and allocating to private markets takes time but volatility during the November election could be an opportunity.
Sustainability
Brightwell focuses sustainability on equality and natural capital
Brightwell, the £37 billion new asset manager for the BT Pension Scheme, lays out why it is focusing on equality and natural capital in its first sustainability report.
InFocus
‘Nothing will stop this trend’: Investing in the energy transition
The energy transition is happening; the only question is the pace at which it takes place. In assessing the investment opportunities, it helps to break the transition down into easily digestible segments. Top1000funds.com explores the opportunity set for investors, including the need to think about cross-disciplinary risks and to specialise.
FIS Toronto 2024
Investors must (creatively) make room for sustainable assets in portfolios
The investment path to net zero may not always be clear. With no dedicated asset class and shifting risk profiles for energy transition-critical assets, the Fiduciary Investors Symposium heard that asset owners need to be flexible and ready to creatively make room in their portfolios when the right opportunities arise.
Sustainability
Dutch fund PGB ups ESG ante for a livable world
Pensioenfonds PGB (PGB), the Netherlands €32 billion industry-wide pension fund, has rewritten its sustainable investment strategy with far reaching ESG commitments.
Featured Story
CalPERS extols the benefits of co-investment in private equity
A recent board meeting marked progress in turning around the fortunes of CalPERS' private equity portfolio. Large co-investments and reducing the bias to buyout are reshaping the profile of investments, said portfolio manager Anton Orlich.
Investor Profile
Frampton shows the way as APFC turns to China, private equity
Opportunity in China, risk aversion in fixed income as spreads remain tight, and turning up the volume in private equity: Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation's Marcus Frampton talks latest strategy at the $82 billion fund.
FIS Toronto 2024
Looking past the hype to the real benefits (and risks) of AI
AI is on every investor’s lips as a technology that will revolutionise businesses and industries. The Fiduciary Investors Symposium heard that looking past the hype to the tangible, on-the-ground benefits presents some genuine challenges for asset owners and the managers they often employ to do it for them.
FIS Toronto 2024
‘Golden age of private credit’ comes with idiosyncratic risks: Pictet
Pictet private debt head Andreas Klein says “mainstream” private credit investments have run their course as buyout activity decreases and global regulators up their oversight. Instead, investors should consider “micro-niches”, but he warns these emerging corners of the market come with hidden and unique risks.
FIS Stanford 2018
FIS Stanford Photo Gallery
View photos from the 2018 Fiduciary Investors Symposium, held at Stanford University, United States.
FIS Stanford 2018
China’s enticing, challenging market
Inefficient markets and an explosion of technological innovation fuelled by Millennial consumers make China a tantalising prospect but accessing strong returns there isn’t as simple as it looks.
FIS Stanford 2018
Protecting human capital helps everyone
Investors have plenty to gain from helping to protect human rights in supply chains and managing the human costs during technological disruption and the transition to a low-carbon economy.
FIS Stanford 2018
How to follow megatrends to success
The big themes that will fuel growth in coming decades are interconnected and subject to change. An expert panel gave advice on riding societal change to outperformance.
FIS Stanford 2018
How the active complements the passive
Investors discuss the various ways that two styles often presented as if they are enemies in fact work hand in hand across portfolios to produce returns.
Featured Story
Shared investment objective critical to portfolio resilience: Bridgewater
Investors who are looking to build portfolio resilience better get their team on the same page first about the underlying investment objectives in play, said Bridgewater co-CIO Karen Karniol-Tambour at the Fiduciary Investors Symposium.
Investor Profile
CPP evolves total portfolio approach
Understanding the drivers of your portfolio risk and return, and then using that information to more dynamically adjust the portfolio, is one of the benefits of the total portfolio approach according to CPP's Manroop Jhooty, whose total fund management team is exploring whether to include emerging factors in portfolio design.
Investor Profile
Looking for the exit: Oregon battles overweight allocations to illiquids
Oregon Investment Council’s exposure to private markets has been a great source of excess returns over the years, but today the overweight allocation to illiquid markets is a growing concern with ramifications for liquidity particularly.
Featured Story
Factor rebalancing superior for managing liquidity
Factor rebalancing a portfolio is a better way to manage liquidity and leverage implications of illiquid assets compared to traditional rebalancing to a static asset allocation, according to new research.
FIS Toronto 2024
The subtle complexity of best-practice pension management
Identifying best practice in pension management is not a straightforward task. As much as asset allocators may want there to be a definitive answer, differences in size, mandate and resources between different pension funds means an investment approach that works for one may not work for others.
Featured Story
Brightwell ponders implications of shake up in UK pension scheme surpluses
New rules may enable employers to tap surplus funds built up in defined benefit plans in the UK. It remains unclear if this would alter investment strategy and see these funds invest more investment in so-called productive assets rather than UK government bonds.
Featured Story
How Ireland’s ISIF is helping crowd-in transition finance
The €15 billion ($16.1 billion) Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) is finding compelling investment opportunities in the energy transition and is successfully drawing in additional investment to finance Ireland’s net zero commitments.
Strategy
What the new global labour market really means for investors
As western economies grapple with demographic shifts and labour mismatches, a new set of opportunities and risks have appeared for investors. PGIM thematic research group director Jakob Wilhelmus outlines what they should look out for in this new world order.