Asset Managers

Banks, not investment funds, are responsible for financing the most carbon-intensive activities, the European Central Bank has concluded on the basis of experimental new indicators for sustainable finance. “The companies they finance produce relatively more emissions in their business operations to achieve a given level of revenue,” the ECB said when presenting the new indicators on Tuesday.

European infrastructure investment firm Marguerite has announced the launch of a platform allowing investors to put their money towards building large-scale photovoltaic solar projects. The firm, based in Luxembourg and Paris, also announced its plans to invest up to 60 million euros in such projects across Europe.

Luxembourg’s fund industry has high hopes for Eltif 2.0, the revised European regime for long-term investment funds that is set to be approved next month by the European Parliament. Thanks to the updated rules, products like private funds can be targeted directly at retail investors in all 30 countries in the European Economic Area with one single AIFM passport.

Investors concerned about uncertainty need to understand that it is fundamental to investing, but humans have a difficult relationship with it. Aswath Damodaran, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business and a prolific writer and social media publisher, is an expert on corporate valuation, finance and portfolio composition and is known as the “dean of valuation.”

How asset managers vote on corporate resolutions every year determines the future of our planet, but the world’s very biggest investment corporations continue to block progress on environmental and social issues. 

Researchers from non-profit organisation Share Action, in the latest edition of the Voting Matters report released this week, outlined how 68 of the world’s largest asset managers voted on 252 ESG-related shareholder resolutions. 

Joseph Pinto will join M&G Asset Management in March as its new chief executive officer, the international savings and investment firm said.

Pinto joins from Natixis Investment Managers and succeeds Jack Daniels who announced his retirement last summer following 21 years of service. At Natixis Pinto served as head of distribution and investment solutions for Europe, Asia and Latin America and as global chief operating Officer.

Regulatory uncertainty that the industry is contending with as a result of the complex range of interacting legal requirements, Efama, the EU’s main trade body for asset management, said. Luxembourg’s Alfi argued that “the element of intent” needs to be considered when making judgements on greenwashing.

With economic growth slowing down in all three of the world’s major economies, investors are best advised to opt for the geographical region with the least messy outlook, leading international economist Mohammed El-Erian has told a Nordic conference. “The cleanest dirty shirt is in the US.”

The EU Packaged Retail Investment and Insurance Products (Priips) regulation is set to take effect across the EU from January, requiring the production of a paper-based Key Investor Document (KID) for all products sold to European retail investors. The UK, meanwhile, has started to explore a new digital retail disclosure system.

JPMorgan Asset Management plans to convert a number of active mutual funds in the US to passive ETFs next year. The asset manager is not alone. Globally, passive is starting to catch up with active.