| From across the nation and around the world, INSIGHTS-edge brings you news, commentary and research in key areas of interest regarding ESG, Sovereign Wealth Funds and US Public Sector Pension Funds. We watch the watchers...who are watching you. ESG / Sustainability Social Investing Gathers Momentum
(Source: BusinessWeek) Despite evidence that nearly two-thirds of 160 socially responsible mutual funds offered by member companies of the Social Investment Forum outperformed their benchmark indexes and beat the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index in 2009 by significant margins, most institutional investors remain convinced that socially responsible investing (SRI) means giving up some return on investment. Investors Appeal to 17 Financial Firms to Adopt Advisory Vote on Executive Compensation
(Source: Walden Asset Management) Approximately 30 investors, deeply involved in the issue of Say on Pay, have sent letters to 17 financial institutions urging them to implement an annual Advisory Vote on executive pay starting with the upcoming 2010 proxy season. This appeal comes in the midst of a heated debate over Wall Street bonuses and follows recent decisions by Goldman Sachs, State Street Corporation and Bank of New York Mellon to implement the Advisory Vote in their 2010 proxies. Sovereign Wealth Funds U.S.-China Friction: Why Neither Side Can Afford a Split
(Source: Time Magazine)
It hasn't been a banner few weeks for U.S.-China relations. In mid-January, Google announced that it was contemplating pulling out of China because of repeated attacks on its network as well as censorship constraints. In the past week, the U.S. government authorized $6 billion in arms sales to Taiwan, and the White House announced that President Obama would meet with the Dalai Lama after having postponed that visit last fall on the eve of Obama's trip to China. China wealth fund details $9.3 billion U.S. portfolio
(Source: MarketWatch) China Investment Corp. offered a rare glimpse into its U.S. equity holdings over the weekend, revealing an affection for resources companies as well as household consumer names such as Apple Computer and Coca Cola, which make up part of its $9.63 billion portfolio of U.S.-listed assets, the sovereign wealth fund said in a regulatory filing Bahrain sovereign wealth fund to diversify
(Source: American Chronicle) Mumtalakat, Bahrain's sovereign wealth fund, plans to diversify away from private equity projects and into stocks and bonds, Reuters has reported. Talal Al Zain told the news service that Mumtalakat expects to receive a credit rating this year, which would allow it to tap capital markets for funding, including Islamic bonds. 'We want to diversify. We will be looking at investments across markets. Our immediate focus will be to diversify investments, channel funds more towards liquidity, that is fixed income, equity markets,' he said. |
Visit INSIGHTS-edge to get the most up to date information.
Contents © 2009
All Rights Reserved Copyrights for other providers are
noted where appropriate.
Please credit the source if quoted. |
| US Public Sector Pension Funds Assemblyman Hernandez introduces CalPERS-backed bill on placement agents
(Source: CalPERS) Sacramento, CA – Assemblyman Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina, has introduced a bill requiring placement agents to register as lobbyists before pitching investment ideas to public pension plans in California.– AB 1743 (Hernandez) -- would define placement agents as lobbyists in accordance with the state’s Political Reform Act. Placement agents would be subject to strict gift limits, campaign contribution prohibitions, and be prohibited from receiving compensation contingent upon any CalPERS investment decision. The placement agents, their firms and employers would be required to report quarterly on their fees and compensation and on any honoraria or gifts. Markstone Capital agrees to pay pension fund $18 million to end AG Andrew Cuomo's probe
(Source: NY Daily News) Albany,NY - A financial firm that won $250 million in pension business while its chairman gave lavish gifts to top fund officials settled Monday with Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Israeli-based Markstone Capital agreed to repay the pension fund $18 million and adopt a code of conduct pushed by Cuomo. Teacher pension fund lost $9 billion last year while costs rose
(Source: GothamSchools.org) In Albany this week, UFT President Michael Mulgrew floated a plan to save the city money by letting teachers retire earlier. But a new report on the health of the city’s teachers pension fund suggests that Mulgrew’s proposal would only compound the fund’s potentially crippling budget crunch. The fund’s annual report, released last week, shows that it lost 29 percent of its value, more than $9 billion, last school year, even as the portion the city is required to pay reached unprecedented heights. Watching the Watchers  Pesticide Action Network North America
Headquarters: San Francisco, California
Established: 1982 OVERVIEW / MISSION
The Pesticide Action Network of North America (PANNA) writes that its works focuses on replacing traditional pesticide use with “ecologically sound and socially just alternatives.” Based in the USA, PANNA is one of five autonomous PAN Regional Centers worldwide, linking local and international consumer, labor, health, environment and agriculture groups into an international citizens' action network. Reason for being: “This network challenges the global proliferation of pesticides, defends basic rights to health and environmental quality, and works to ensure the transition to a just and viable society." |
