Report
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April, 2021
AMX and DWS launch stewardship service for pooled funds
The Asset Management Exchange (AMX) and asset manager DWS have launched an investment service that allows pension schemes to express their stewardship preferences in pooled funds. The new pooled fund service, which has been developed in partnership with Minerva Analytics and Northern Trust, aggregates investor stewardship preferences and seeks to execute ...
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April, 2021
PLSA advises investors to vote against permanent virtual AGMs
Pension fund investors must be careful this AGM season to assess how companies’ response to the pandemic has impacted their governance and workforce practices, the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) has warned in its updated annual stewardship and voting guidelines. Since the UK entered the first period of lockdown in March 2020, virtual ...
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April, 2021
HSBC tables resolution to phase out coal by 2030
HSBC has committed to publishing this year a policy to phase out the financing of coal-fired power and thermal coal mining by 2030 in markets in OECD countries, and by 2040 elsewhere. The special resolution will be put to a vote at the lender’s annual general meeting on 28 May and follows “months of negotiations” between HSBC and a coalition of ...
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April, 2021
EM outflows jump on rising bond yields
Emerging market outflows approached “taper tantrum” levels at the start of March, in a sharp reversal of inflows recorded in February. Rising long-term US treasury rates have sparked a sharp rise in outflows from emerging market equity and bond funds, according to the Institute of International Finance’s (IIF) capital flows tracker. “Back in 2013, ...
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April, 2021
“Net zero” transition presents £350 billion investment opportunity
Achieving the government’s “net zero” target by 2050 will require around £350 billion in investment in the energy sector, according to a new report. The investment opportunity for asset owners equates to £12 billion a year over the next 30 years, according to LCP’s report, Aligning the Stars: Asset owners and energy investment toward Net ...
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April, 2021
Dividends forecast to rise 5% this year
Global dividends fell 12% during 2020, according to the latest global dividend index from Janus Henderson, after one company in eight cancelled their payout altogether. However, payouts were higher than Janus Henderson’s best-case forecast of $1.21 trillion, thanks to a less severe fall in Q4 payouts than anticipated. On an underlying basis, dividends ...
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April, 2021
Brunel targets 50% cut in emissions by 2030
Brunel Pensions Partnership has committed to halving the carbon emissions of its investment portfolio by 2030 and set a goal of hitting net zero by 2050. The pensions pool has helped in the launch of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change’s Net Zero Investor Framework (NZIF), which seeks to provide institutional investors with the tools to ...
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April, 2021
Two-thirds of asset managers unable to detail voting performance
Only a third of asset managers could provide details of how they had used their influence in voting, according to a new survey by Dalriada Trustees. Of the 43 asset managers contacted by Dalriada’s service partner, Minerva Analytics, two-thirds were unable to provide details of how they exercised their voting rights or engaged with the companies they ...
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April, 2021
Real estate returns rebound
European real estate returns improved during the fourth quarter thanks to growing investor confidence in the asset class. The INREV Pan-European Quarterly Asset Level Index generated a total return of 1.92%, up from 1.21% during the third quarter. The INREV Quarterly Fund Index, which represents 333 funds, tells a similarly positive story, with a total ...
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April, 2021
First major insurer sets net zero target for 2040
Aviva has become the first major insurer globally to target net zero carbon emissions by 2040. The goal will cover the group’s scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, and include shareholder assets and policy holder assets where Aviva has decision-making control. By the end of 2022 it will divest from all companies that make more than 5% of their revenue from coal ...
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