ESG

“I believe that ESG is, at its core, a feel-good scam that is enriching consultants, measurement services and fund managers, while doing closer to nothing for the businesses and investors it claims to help.” All over the world, jaws are dropping at that statement, which could hardly be more incendiary for many people in the…

Industry-leading finance data and research consultancy bfinance this week released the results of its “snap” What are investors thinking now? study and survey. Completed amid the geopolitical and market upheaval in March 2022, the survey of 418 institutional investors across 39 countries offers a real-time insight into what they were concerned about. First and foremost…

The growing popularity of ESG-themed strategies by fund managers is no doubt a positive for the globe, but the “proliferation of product” is muddying the waters of sustainability and green-themed investments. This was the core message delivered by Australian Ethical’s head of domestic equities, Mike Murray, when presenting at The Inside Network’s Equities and Growth…

As an adviser, you want your clients to be educated on the importance of financial advice.  Research has shown that a one-size-fits-all approach to communication isn’t the most effective tactic and while it’s near impossible to customise messages person to person, it turns out that it’s quite easy to customise them by one big factor…

Asset manager Perpetual has made a bold $2.4 billion takeover bid for asset manager Pendal, which it says would create a “leader in the Australian asset management market”, and analysts are upbeat on the deal, with some saying a higher bid could emerge. Perpetual has launched a conditional, non-binding proposal to buy 100 per cent…

As chief investment officer of Munro Partners, a global growth equity strategy that seeks to be THE global growth fund for Australian investors, Nick Griffin has been among the most successful at identifying and leveraging the most powerful economic and societal themes in recent decades. Whether it was the days explaining how a little-known online…

With climate change front and centre of every investor’s mind, most people think of renewable energy or clean energy production as being primarily solar panels or wind turbines. Often many of the more effective and efficient renewable energy production processes are left out, such as hydro-electricity. Nuclear power is almost always omitted from the “clean…

Following-on from the COP26 meeting last November, there has been a tectonic shift towards “green” asset investments to ensure that the (voluntary) national goals of the Paris Agreement are met, and there is a rapid reduction of carbon-dioxide emissions to ‘net zero’ levels. The Australian Financial Review said that as of September 30, “sustainable funds…

The number one expectation Australians have of financial advisers in 2022 is quite straightforward, according to the Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA); they must know about responsible investment. That is according to the more than one thousand people interviewed for the latest Values to Riches survey, 64 per cent of which suggested this was a…

Everybody loves a good story – investors particularly so. But sometimes a good story can lead to a crowded trade, or one that defies reality. “In finance, behaviour is driven by expectations of future returns, and expectations are often driven by stories, particularly during times of heightened uncertainty,” Charalee Hoelzl, investment manager at Ruffer Investment…

At the COP 26 UN Climate Change meeting in Glasgow last November 2021, parties came together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. At Glasgow, global funds manager Janus Henderson put together a panel of experts to take a closer look at decarbonisation in…

Martin Currie has released its Global Emerging Markets 2022 Outlook research note, which gives investors enough reasons to be invested in 2022 and what to expect for the year ahead. If 2021 was anything to go by, the market learnt that Covid-19 is here to stay with an ongoing health impact. This would ensure a…