| 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 The Future of ESG Reporting: Do Accountants Get It?
(Source: JustMeans.com) If you ever had the opinion that accountants were a pallid, homogenous crowd set in their ways, remove that image from your thoughts now. This afternoon's GRI Conference session on the shared future of accountants and environmental, social, and governance reporting (ESG) showcased a lively debate over what's on the horizon for reporting this coming decade. Six professionals across different continents generally agreed that their profession "gets it" . . . to a degree. Report from GRI Amsterdam: The Future of Transparent Sustainability Reporting
(Source: Triple Pundit) The three-day Global Reporting Initiative’s Conference on Sustainability and Transparency ended in Amsterdam yesterday, with 1100 professionals from 77 countries buzzing over the future possibility of integrated financial and ESG (environmental, social, and governance–the European term for “CSR”) reporting Chinese Gov't Demands Foxconn Stop Suicides, Says Unions are the Answer
(Source: Daily Tech) Foxconn's Taiwanese owner Hon Hai has tried everything to curb the suicides at its Chinese Shenzhen plant -- anger rooms where employees can beat away their stress, soothing Buddhist music on the assembly line, counseling from monks, and, most recently, requiring employees to sign contract letters promising not to kill themselves (the letter has since been retracted). However, none of those steps seems to have worked yet at stopping the suicides at the plant which manufactures most of the world's iPhones, iPods, and iPads. A Green Supply Chain Starts with a Promise, But Needs Verification Too
(Source: Triple Pundit) In the past month, a number of large-scale products manufacturers (IBM, Ford, Intel, Procter & Gamble, Puma) and service providers (Kaiser Permanente) have issued sustainability focused supply chain related announcements. As noted by Green Advantages’ Andrew Winston, a common theme of each of these mandates focuses on “transparency.” Also, new reports are emerging that companies are taking climate change programs to their respective supply bases as a means of supporting corporate responsibility reporting. Sovereign Wealth Funds Reputation is key to GCC SWFs growth
(Source: Arab Times) KUWAIT CITY, June 2: Nearly three quarters (74 percent) of elites would approve of investment coming from Kuwait, according to the Sovereign Brands Survey 2010, the most extensive study into the attitudes of global broad elites to sovereign wealth as a concept, the reputation of host nations and sovereign wealth funds (SWFs). This figure is the highest for any of the Middle East countries covered in the survey. Conducted by Hill & Knowlton and Penn Schoen Berland, two of the world’s pre-eminent communications, research and strategy consultants, the study interviewed elites in 7 markets on their views of 19 host countries and their SWF. Wealth Funds Due for Image Polishing
(Source: Globe Street.com) NEW YORK CITY-Commercial real estate tops the list of industries in which US decision makers would like to see sovereign wealth funds invest, yet at the same time those decision makers take a less favorable view of the funds in the current downturn. That’s one of the findings of a global survey conducted by Hill & Knowlton among "elites" in seven markets, and the company’s Jim Cox tells GlobeSt.com that the wealth funds may need to do some image-polishing. Sovereign Wealth Funds
(Source: Financial Express) After the global downturn, concerns have been raised over the transparency of Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs). Countries like India and the US are least familiar and least favourable to SWF investment. A survey carried out by Hill & Knowlton and Penn Schoen Berland among 1,064 investors across seven markets in the world revealed that host countries most interested in SWFs are also the most cautious. About 97% of elites in China and 60% in India had reservations about SWFs investments. Sovereign Wealth Funds -- 2 years later
(Source: Business News Network) In late 2007 and early 2008 one couldn't open a newspaper or a business magazine without facing a Sovereign Wealth Fund discussion. There were large reports from all the major investment dealers; the hottest session at Davos' World Economic Forum was about these funds and the implications of their vast and growing wealth (governance issues, politics and motives); and everywhere there were projections that these funds would have access to $10 to $15 trillion worth of capital by the year 2012-2015. | Visit INSIGHTS-edge to get the most up to date information. Contents © 2009
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US Public Sector Pension Funds Obama's Next Bailout Beneficiaries: Corrupt Union Pension Funds
(Source: Opposing Views.com) The Obama administration and its congressional allies are now pushing for billions more in bailouts for mismanaged union pension funds, and teachers unions. The union pension bailout bill “would transfer tens of billions of dollars worth of retiree liabilities” from unions “to taxpayers.” It would bail out the massively underfunded pension fund of the SEIU, a corrupt left-wing union that uses mobs to intimidate, and occasionally beat up, its critics and creditors. The union pension funds are estimated to be underfunded by $165 billion.
NY state pension fund up 26 pct as stocks shine
(Source: Reuters) New York state's pension fund rose to $132.6 billion in the fiscal year ended March 31, up 25.9 percent from the previous year and the third-best annual performance on record after gains in domestic and global equities, the state comptroller said on Tuesday.
Public pension funds could be in for big shock
(Source: Pittsburgh Tribune- Review) The Government Accounting Standards Board is preparing to release a document that could send shivers through public pension systems and the taxpayers who fund them. The document, tagged a preliminary view of proposed pension accounting reforms, is scheduled for release this week. Statements on the board's website suggest coming disclosure standards that could ramp up the need for higher contributions to keep public pension funds on a stable footing.
PhillyDeals: As pension funds fail, taxpayers foot the bill
(Source: Philadelphia Business Daily) Guaranteed retirement pensions were one of the great social accomplishments of U.S. employers after World War II. The decay of those pensions has been ugly. Fixing or replacing the nation's underfunded pension plans will be expensive, no matter who is forced to pay for it: employers, taxpayers, or future retirees. Watching the Watchers  Glass, Lewis & Co. LLC
Headquarters: San Francisco, California
Established: 2003
OVERVIEW / MISSION
Glass Lewis sums up its activity: “Glass, Lewis & Co. LLC is the leading independent governance analysis and proxy voting firm, serving institutional investors that collectively manage more than $17 trillion in assets...” The firm claims that its mission is “to be known as the world's leading governance analysis and proxy voting firm by offering independent research and best-in-class execution solutions that empower our clients to vote their proxies in the interest of long-term, sustainable shareholder value.” BACKGROUND
Glass Lewis looks at various types of risk – business, legal, governance, and accounting – as it analyzes publicly-traded companies for its clients. The firm claims to have “several hundred institutional clients on three continents” and they collectively manage over USD$17 trillion. Glass Lewis says it analyzes risk at “more than 18,000 companies in over 80 countries.” Though Glass Lewis was founded in 2003 by Wall Streeters, it is now an independent subsidiary of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board. |
