Insights & News

Who hasn’t sat at home, shouting at the TV as a contestant on a quiz show offers up a hopelessly wrong answer? Incredulity, frustration and a sense of helplessness are all common emotions in that situation. At least you normally get a good laugh at the end of it.

"Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing", quipped Oscar Wilde. He wasn’t far off the truth when it comes to the cost of progress. Certainly, humanity has progressed substantially in the post-industrial era. But this has come at the cost of the environment. Economic development and wealth creation arising from industrialisation resulted in a rapid increase in energy usage, and a concomitant increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Does investing in palm oil companies pose a controversy or present an opportunity? Here is a deep-dive analysis of the palm oil sector and the material ESG issues facing it. All in all, we believe that positive ESG changes represent a strong opportunity for palm oil companies, and we look for candidates that strive towards sustainability goals and exceed their ESG targets.

To mark International Women’s Day on 8 March, we announced we have set a target that women hold 30% of all managerial roles across the group, globally by 2030. This target, termed “30 by 2030” will accelerate women’s career advancement, and is key in guiding the firm’s initiatives to achieve greater gender diversity in a transparent way.

The introduction of the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation in March 2021 will see significant changes to the way asset management is conducted. It includes new disclosure requirements for investment firms to address environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns and we welcome it with open arms.

The global markets surged in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic. While we expect the liquidity-driven rise to continue for a while, we should be prepared for the tide to eventually turn. We identify Japanese industries, notably “Delta ESG” stocks, that could become sources of alpha in the post-pandemic world.

Another quarter goes by and we are still (in the United Kingdom anyway) limited in our ability to travel and congregate in offices. In my spare time, I often end up searching vainly for fresh and interesting new content, only to revert to watching stalwarts such as the Bourne film series.

In Japan, a country that struggles with an ageing and shrinking population, it is important from an economic and social perspective to improve labour productivity by utilising human capital more efficiently. Click to read an adaptation of Yasushi Ishikawa and Kyoji Hasegawa’s award-winning paper on this topic.

In our second annual report, we analyse the impact of climate change on our operating results and financial positions in the 2019 calendar year, focusing on the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)’s recommendations with respect to governance, strategy and risk management.

At the time of writing, Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden leads the polls by 10 percentage points and will likely be elected President of The United States on 3 November 2020. The potential for a Democrat “Blue Wave” with control of both houses easing the passage of legislation also seems possible.