Newsletter

ESG / Sustainability

Sustainability Indices Sprouting Up
(Source: CNBC) If you like your investment portfolio with a side order of conscience, there are a lot of new sustainability indices out there for you.

RiskMetrics' Going Corporate Is a Sad Affair
(Source: Seeking Alpha) always have admired RiskMetrics (RMG), because they offer straightforward advice about how to measure risk

ESG Outperforms Mainstream Funds
(Source: Money Management.com) Over the past financial year, managed responsible investment portfolios fell by an average of 3 per cent less than funds in the broader mainstream market, which dropped by 14 per cent over the same period.

Sovereign Wealth Funds

Sovereign Fund Assets To Hit $8trln By 2015-Report
(Source: Reuters) Sovereign wealth funds' assets may grow by 10-15 percent a year to $8 trillion by 2015 and their desire to shift away from the dollar would encourage them to invest in emerging economies, according to a new report.

Sovereign Funds Warn Against Investment Barriers
(Source: Money Control.com) Sovereign wealth funds told Pacific Rim political leaders on Saturday they could play an important role in the global economic recovery if countries did not obstruct their investments.

Norway's Wealth Fund Rises To $455bn On Record 13.5% Return In Third Quarter Of 2009
(Source: Fin Facts) The return on Norway's Government Pension Fund, one of the world's biggest sovereign wealth funds, was 13.5 percent in the third quarter of 2009, the best quarterly result ever - - raising the total fund value to $455bn.

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Are CalPERS' Hands Clean?
(Source: Los Angeles Times) The pension fund sustained huge losses as the market sank. Was it all just bad investment choices?

Powerful Clients Boost Ex-Board Member's Career Hawking Investments to CalPERS
(Source: Sacramento Bee) In his long and controversial career pitching investment deals to CalPERS, former board member Alfred J. Villalobos repeatedly has spun gold from a web of important business associates.

How Deep Does It Go? SEC Probes Fraud at State Pension Fund, Wall Street Giants
(Source: Tampa.com) Wake up and good morning. Kudos to investigative reporter Sydney Freedberg for Friday's front page St. Petersburg Times story revealing the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating possible fraud by the Florida State Board of Administration.

Watching the Watchers

California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS)
Location: Sacramento, California (state capital)
Established: 1932, by state law
Estimated asset base: USD$175 billion (as of March 2009)

FOCUS: CalPERS is the largest (in asset base) state pension fund in the United States of America. The California economy alone, separate of the USA, is among the 10 largest economies in the world. CalPERS is a significant institutional investor in the USA and in other economies.

Governance & Accountability Institute is a monitoring, intelligence-gathering and knowledge management center operating at the intersections of powerful forces reshaping relationship between stockholders and stakeholders, and the public corporation. For more information, contact us at 516.248.2383 or info@ga-institute.com.