The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is currently considering pay-to-play activities and will report back on any proposed action in the next few weeks, according to its chairman Mary Schapiro, speaking via video at the annual International Corporate Governance Network conference this week.
Pension funds should demand an overhaul in the product offerings of funds managers and change the terms of mandates to incorporate environmental, social and governance issues in portfolios, according to Colin Melvin, chief executive of Hermes Equity Ownership Services, who pointed to a number of funds in the UK, including the owner of Hermes, BT Pension Scheme, considering such action.
The financial crisis has challenged pension funds to rethink standard asset allocation models, but as Jonathan Armitage, head of US equities at Schroders observes, a lot of investors are questioning whether they need to react.
A new report commissioned by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has found environmental, social and governance investment criteria in emerging
markets are being embraced by most of the asset management community despite the economic crisis.
Three of Europe’s largest institutional investors have teamed up to investigate the way environmental issues are assessed and managed by real estate companies.
The ability to appoint and dismiss company board directors is the most important shareholder right according to an overwhelming majority of delegates at the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) annual conference, who were more cautious on whether shareholders could actually influence corporate governance once they had the right to vote.