While some major investment firms have made notable positive contributions to stewardship, the industry needs to step up its game, according to a report from Willis Towers Watson. The report noted certain highly publicized efforts by asset managers aimed to raise awareness around the lack of women on corporate boards. However, overall, stewardship action accounts […]
A New Democratic Party member of parliament is proposing to legislate responsible investing into the mandate of the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board. Alistair MacGregor, the MP for the British Columbia riding of Cowichan-Malahat-Langford, has drafted a bill to amend section 35 of the CPPIB Act to prevent the board from investing in companies that have […]
Since using a single benchmark portfolio to measure a pension plan’s funding status paints a narrow picture, a new report by PBI Actuaries and Consultants looked at four different portfolio types to see how the equity fall off at the end of the year, among other market events, affected different asset mixes. The liability portfolio kept […]
As pension plans are engaging more often as active shareholders, some companies are beginning to chafe. One instance of pushback came after the the New York State Common Retirement Fund co-sponsored a proposal with the Church of England’s endowment fund requesting that Exxon Mobil Corp. include short-, medium- and long-term greenhouse gas reduction targets aligned with […]
Colin Ripsman, former vice-president of institutional client service at Foyston, Gordon and Payne Inc., has launched a specialty investment consulting firm. Based in Toronto, Elegant Investment Solutions Inc., will offer investment consulting and governance services for defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans, foundations and endowments. “There’s a real benefit from a client perspective to work […]
In 2016, when Bert Clark became the Investment Management Corp. of Ontario’s first president and chief executive officer, he was tasked with building the organization from scratch. Like a startup, he had the opportunity to begin from square one, free of legacy systems. “I think one of the advantages we have is that we’re 25 […]
New Zealand government pension funds are calling on Facebook Inc., Alphabet Inc. and Twitter Inc. to reign in the proliferation of hate on their platforms in the wake of the Christchurch terrorist attack in March. The New Zealand Super Fund, Government Superannuation Fund, National Provident Fund and Kiwi Wealth, as well as the country’s Accident Compensation Corp., […]
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is teaming up with New York-based, non-profit Clean, Renewable and Environmental Opportunities Family Office Syndicate to foster more capital towards climate-related investments. CREO is a group of global family offices interested in investing towards the transition to an environmentally friendly economy, with particular focus on clean energy, […]
Venture capital funds had an expensive first quarter of the year, investing US$32.6 billion, the second highest quarter in the last decade, according to data from Pitch Book and the National Venture Capital Association. But that capital is going towards a smaller number of deals, with the quarter’s spending going towards just 1,853 deals, a […]
Limiting global warming is essential to institutional investors, according to a new report by Mercer Canada. The report models three different scenarios, examining the impact of average warming of two, three and four degrees Celsius over three timeframes: 2030, 2050 and 2100. For both investors and the planet, limiting warming to two degrees is ideal, […]