The A$98 billion ($64 billion) Australian super fund HESTA is laying the groundwork for a more systematic framework for using AI across its total portfolio, solidifying use cases in research, forecasting, risk management and private assets that all centres on the objective of “seeing risks earlier and clearer”.
The US Department of Labor has publicly condemned the OECD for “pushing members to politicise their pension systems by integrating ESG factors unmoored from returns”, declaring that it will no longer support the OECD’s responsible investment principles and the concept of ESG “a Marxist march through corporate culture”.
Emerging markets, Europe and Japan are all in focus for Australia’s sovereign wealth fund as it looks to ramp up active equities and diversify its exposures, as the fund grows wary of US markets amidst heightened political uncertainty.
President Trump has fired the starting gun on encouraging America’s 401(k) plans to invest in private assets but corporate plans remain concerned about fees, structures and litigation. Meanwhile many DB funds are voicing their concerns about how it might impact access to investments, alpha, and change the asset class.
OMERS has warned that investors need to temper their expectations regarding the performance of more recent private equity vintages, as the favourable environment of high valuation multiples and low interest rates that spurred over a decade of superior returns begins to fade, said APAC head Ashish Goyal in Singapore.
Will the relentless pursuit of efficiency undermine our ability to build a resilient and sustainable future? Andrea Caloisi, a researcher at the Thinking Ahead Institute at WTW, explores how complex systems, driven by short-term optimisation, may be fuelling long-term fragility.
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