The Danish defense industry has encouraged pension funds in the country to look more positively at investments in weapons. ”We would like it to be considered ordinary societal responsibility,” says an industry leader.
The Swedish insurer has changed to Paris-aligned indices which the firm believes will cut the CO2 emissions of the portfolio in half.
The Danish FSA, Finanstilsynet, states that asset managers are using the EU’s sustainable finance disclosure regulation to signify quality, which is not the point of the legislation. In fact, the FSA states it is the opposite of what the EU intended.
A senior sustainability analyst and engagement lead is taking on a management role, despite having only joined Handelsbanken from Skandia in February.
The asset manager has poached profiles from BlackRock and Nykredit to accelerate growth across several business segments. Head of Nordics and Benelux Christoffer Hedberg believes his new team is set up for something big.
The Swedish sustainability profile spills the beans on why he is leaving Danish pension company PFA after six months. He tells AMWatch why the opportunity from Japan was too good to turn down and why he’s sick of industry greenwashing.
Euronext, which runs the Oslo stock exchange, has launched its own ESG index for companies listed in Norway.
Europe’s desire to break away from Russian gas, oil and coal will increase the demand for renewable energy, which will support our private asset management business in the long term, says CEO of Finland’s Taaleri Peter Ramsay.
OP Asset Management has weathered a difficult Q1 with inflow from retail and outflow from institutional clients.
Norway’s largest asset manager is content with a muted AUM drop in Q1, helped by strong inflows in its Swedish operations as well as growing appetite for its value strategies and real assets, CEO Jan Erik Saugestad tells AMWatch.
Relying on a specific sector such as tech to build an ESG portfolio has exposed investors to unnecessary losses.
In 2020, Denmark’s biggest pension company ATP developed a comprehensive ESG survey for unlisted investments. Now, Industriens Pension and PenSam are also implementing the questionnaire.
Both Ilmarinen and Varma recorded a negative result for the first quarter of the year. Ilmarinen’s CEO highlights that it is increasingly important to be prepared for extraordinary situations, while Varma’s CIO predicts that the rest of 2022 will not look rosy for investors.
Sri Lanka risk defauling on its debt and needs to restructure it. According to Thede Ruest, head of EMD at Nordea Asset Management (NAM), the country has the unique chance to become the first country that has all its international bonds aligned to the Paris agreement. NAM wants to tie any restructuring plan to climate goals,
”Our ESG products are quite popular with the institutions, and not only in Europe anymore,” says Snorre Storset, head of Asset and Wealth Management at Nordea, and elaborates on the details to AMWatch.
“Energy independence is back on the table in terms of being an important driver of renewables. That has become a premium,” says Philip Ripman, manager of Storebrand’s Renewable Energy fund, which so far has outperformed the market in 2022.
“We are going to look at engagement more closely, engagement activities related to climate especially, to hold managers to account,” says Hortense Bioy, global head of sustainability research at Morningstar.
Varma’s director for Responsible Investments Hanna Kaskela and CIO of S-Bank Mika Leskinen think that views on excluding weapons companies may go through a change.
Two large fund management companies are changing their standards for what can be labelled as sustainable in order to help consumers navigate the large amount of sustainable products on offer. Two more are open to the idea.
Previously the investment theme of transition energy had two main drivers - climate and economy. With the Russian attack on Ukraine, a third driver, security, has been added, says Robert Slorach, Senior Portfolio Manager, Equities at Swedbank Robur Fonder.
Lærernes Pension is facing criticism for going too far in its policy on responsible investments, and for the list of excluded companies, 658 in total, to be too long.
Danish pension provider P+, which caters to academics, has cleaned up its portfolio and parted from companies including BP and Equinor.
The Swedish pension company continues its focus on investing in unlisted businesses with innovative technology, buying 9% of the stocks in Polarium.
The Swedish insurance group will offer a Pictet fund, having removed two traditional commodity funds at the beginning of the year.
The Danish pension fund has confirmed its profiled Head of Sustainability Sasja Beslik is leaving at the end of May – despite only joining the firm in September.
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