This paper, by senior research fellow at the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School,
Aaron Bernstein, explores how pension funds can gather quantifiable, independently audited data on the risks posed by labor and human rights activities of global companies, that is analogous to financial information, and how investors can help facilitate the acceptance of such data.

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In an environment where periodic illiquidity has become more frequent, Alan Dorsey and Juliana Davydov from Neuberger and Berman explore the risks associated with a new asset allocation approach and the use of managers with broader mandates.

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A “new normal” will reign in investment markets after the shocks of last year, according to PIMCO, with the manager’s secular outlook favouring investment at the front-end of the yield curve as well as income producing instruments. This article looks at the outcomes of its recent secular forum including a call for investment management vehicles to be made more responsive and robust.

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Invest AD, the new-look Abu Dhabi Investment Company, has further ramped up efforts to attract institutional capital from around the globe to invest in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region by launching four new equity funds.

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With some government-committed funding, the Responsible Investment Academy, has the flexibility to achieve its aim of being the first global academic-training centre to teach pension funds and their service providers how to formally incorporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues in their investment assessments. Amanda White spoke to chair of the academy’s advisory council, Steve Gibbs.

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The $23 billion National Oil Fund of Kazakhstan, an economic stabilisation fund built from surplus oil revenues, is seeking external active and passive global equity managers as it pumps money into the domestic economy in an attempt to offset the impacts of the financial crisis.

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