Financial advisers have not been explicitly included in the design of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) proposed labelling scheme to crack down on greenwashing, the Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR), which, after several delays, is due to be in place before 2024. Furthermore, there is still no prescriptive guidance or regulation (outside COB) that dictates best … Read more
Columbia Threadneedle has announced that UBS Global Wealth Management (UBS GWM) has invested into its newly launched Sustainable Global Equity Enhanced Income strategy. The fund, which is registered for sale in Singapore, was launched in late August and has a combined yield target of between 4% and 8% per annum. The main purpose of the … Read more
Nikko Asset Management has become the latest investment group to become a signatory to an investor statement calling for the reduction of single-use plastics. In May this year, a coalition of nearly 200 investors, with $10trn in combined assets under management, signed a statement demanding companies adopt a more radical approach to reduce their reliance … Read more
Last month, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) added 27 signatories to its Stewardship Code bringing its total coverage to 277 capital providers and an aggregate assets under management of £44.6trn. Despite its narrow applicability to investing on behalf of UK savers and pensioners, the Stewardship Code has set something of a global benchmark for responsible … Read more
For an industry that is such a big proponent of corporate transparency, we continue to face challenges around transparency about voting. Last year, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) sought to tackle this by establishing the Vote Reporting Group, whose mission is to create a comprehensive and centralised proxy voting reporting framework within the UK … Read more
Investors in Asia would like to see greater transparency and more disclosure on decarbonisation from the steel sector in order to give them confidence to allocate capital to the appropriate companies and projects in the region. This is one of the takeaways from a roundtable convened in October by the Asia Investor Group on Climate … Read more
The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) has launched a Latin America and Caribbean Network to drive net-zero progress in the region. Latin America and the Caribbean contribute less than 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions yet is considered one of the most vulnerable regions to a diverse set of climate-related risks. However, according … Read more
UNCTAD’s 8th World Investment Forum underscored the sector’s pivotal role in bridging the $4 trillion annual investment gap developing countries face to achieve the Global Goals, especially for food security and biodiversity protection. Ministers of investment and enterprise participating in UNCTAD’s 8th World Investment Forum identified the agrifood sector as a top priority for global investment. They … Read more
Workforce conditions and supply chains are among the issues that the Taskforce on Social Factors’ (TSF) has highlighted in their latest guidance, aimed at helping pension trustees better consider and incorporate social factors into their investment and stewardship decision-making. The guide includes more than 30 recommendations for the UK pensions sector about how it can … Read more
Sometimes a memory of a moment creeps up on you when you least expect it. For me that happened on train reading a PDF a few weeks ago – nothing particularly new there, many of us only get to read on public transport away from the stream of notifications. You might be familiar with this … Read more