| 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 Intel Inside, Safe Water Outside: Intel Recognizes the Human Right to Water
(Source: NorthStar Asset Management)
On the eve of World Water Day (March 22), Boston portfolio management company NorthStar Asset Management, Inc. is pleased to announce successful negotiations with Intel Corporation on the creation of an official Intel policy that supports the human right to water. Intel Corp. is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of semiconductor chips, the creation of which requires the ongoing use of large amounts of water. “This agreement moves beyond the vague promises of water conservation that many corporations purport,” says Julie Goodridge, CEO of NorthStar Asset Management, Inc. “It fully commits the company to respecting the human right to sufficient clean water, as well as individuals’ rights to be involved in the development of processes that extract water from their communities.” Social Investment Forum Welcomes Dodd Steps On Corporate Governance Reform, SEC Self-Funding
(Source: Social Investment Forum)
WASHINGTON, D.C. Social Investment Forum CEO Lisa Woll issued the following statement today in the wake of the introduction by U.S. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd of his major financial services reform legislation: “The Social Investment Forum (SIF) has been on record for some time as strongly supporting three key areas of reform: meaningful corporate governance reforms (including proxy access, majority voting and ‘say on pay’); self-funding of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); and an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA). We welcome the progress reflected in Senator Dodd’s bill on the major fronts of corporate governance reform and SEC self funding, but we have concerns about provisions in the bill that could compromise the functional independence of the proposed consumer protection entity. ESG Issues for 2010 Proxy Season: Green Century and As You Sow Seek Action on Coal Ash
(Source: Rusk Metrics)
Earlier this month, Green Century Capital Management and As You Sow filed shareholder resolutions calling for utilities to disclose how they will address the risks associated with coal ash. Boston-based Green Century and As You Sow, an advocacy group, believe that the storage and reuse of coal ash could have broad consequences for both the environment and shareholders. Sovereign Wealth Funds Sovereign Wealth Funds Get Back To Basics
(Source: Q Finance)
The financial meltdown did not just devastate Western economies. It also took large bites out of the sovereign wealth funds and inflicted some harsh lessons on those charged with running these funds, many of whom have solid careers behind them as bureaucrats and bankers rather than as mainstream investment managers Sovereign Wealth Funds Back On The Biggest Stage
(Source: Times Online)
Sovereign wealth funds have been keeping their heads down. Falling asset values, sliding oil prices and big deals gone sour forced many to close their wallets in 2008 and 2009. But all that is about to change. A fresh round of big deals is going to thrust the funds — regarded by some as the bogeymen of international finance — back into the spotlight. |
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| US Public Sector Pension Funds SEC Warns Firms on Muni Pay-to-Play Rules
(Source: US Securities and Exchange Commission)
Washington, D.C.— The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a report warning firms that municipal securities rules prohibiting pay-to-play apply to affiliated financial professionals, not just a firm's employees. The pay-to-play rule, MSRB Rule G-37, generally prohibits firms from underwriting municipal bonds for an issuer for two years after a municipal finance professional (MFP) involved with that firm makes a campaign contribution to an elected official of that municipality. Nebraska and Delaware, the Tallest Pension Pygmies
(Source: The American)
In the Wall Street Journal this morning I wrote about how public employee pensions use accounting rules that significantly understate the true value of their funding shortfalls. While pensions for state government employees report that they are around $450 billion short of being “fully funded,” this figure relies on the assumption that plans can earn high returns on their investment portfolios without taking any risk. If the cost of market risk is included—and this risk is crucial, since taxpayers are legally required to make up plans’ losses—then the true value of pension underfunding tops $3 trillion. Gambling To Fix Pensions Can Lead To A Bigger Bind (also audio)
(Source: NPR)
When the owners of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village in Manhattan decided to abandon the properties to their creditors in January, residents were left in a kind of legal limbo, worrying about what would happen to the place they called home. Watching the Watchers  The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
Headquarters: Initiative is based in the United Kingdom and European Union
Established: “GS SUSTAIN” framework for investors – a sustainable investment focus list (launched summer 2007)
Background
One of the world’s leading investment banking organizations, Goldman Sachs, has been working with the United Nations and other global organizations to develop a “framework” for investors to help in analyzing the potential “sustainability” of companies (for investment purposes). The investment bankers have evolved a proprietary framework – GS SUSTAIN – to analyze competitive advantage in mature industries and to help identify “winners’ in emerging industries … as “these evolve in response to a rapidly changing globalizing world…” What Goldman Sachs analysts stress is that valuation is not fundamentally changing – cash spread returns and valuation have been highly correlated for almost two decades, and portfolios constructed on this basis have consistently outperformed [other investments]. The market rewards competitive advantage with premium valuation. What is changing: The increasing institutional investor focus on ESG factors and performance metrics – Environmental, Social and [Corporate] Governance concerns and issues. The resulting “good performance” on ESG = Sustainability for investors. |
