From active to passive investing & impact on sustainable investment policy

Transcription

1 From active to passive investing & impact on sustainable investment policy 19 september

2 From active to passive management and the impact on sustainable investment policy Does the investment style (active or passive) effect the sustainability investment policy or vice versa? Active versus passive investing Sustainability policy Implications Conclusion 2

3 Investment process Why do you invest? Who are your beneficiaries? What are your investment goals? Financial Other (e.g. sustainablity) What are your restrictions Liabilities Period Regulation / prudent person 3

4 Investment process What are your investment beliefs? Diversification Sustainability Market efficiency (active / passive) Transparency (a.o. on costs) Investment beliefs should not conflict: investment style decisions and sustainability policy can be combined in investment portfolio But there are of course implications 4

5 Investment style and sustainability policy What is definition of active and passive investing? How strict is the dividing line? Smart beta What about Benchmarks How can an investor implement sustainability in the investment portfolio? Exclusion; Best-in-class; Integration of ESG factors; Voting / Engagement; Impact investing Investor can decide per asset class what strategy will be used 5

6 Exclusions / best-in-class Exclusion (absolute criteria) / Best-in-class (relative criteria) Starting point is that companies / sectors are removed from the investment universe This has consequences for tracking the benchmark (benchmark risk) Both active and passive management are possible with exclusions and best-in-class Issues to look at are Costs; active is usually more expensive than passive Return; do you expect a compensation for these higher costs Governance; active requires has more control issues Risk; is a higher tracking error acceptable? Benchmarks; do you use a customized benchmark? What benchmark was used in ALM? What is costs of custom benchmark 6

7 ESG Integration active Integration of ESG factors Active management Integration of ESG factors in the investment process Investment decisions (partly) based on ESG factors Does it pay off? F&C ESG risk score as a tool for integrating ESG factors Passive management According to report of UN PRI (2011): Passive management is consistent with Principles, primarily through voting & company engagement. There are also an increasing variety of indices being designed that integrate ESG factors into index design and management. Integration of ESG factors is also possible; sustainable or customized benchmarks 7

8 F&C ESG risk score Provides a company ESG score Captures risks based on company ESG policies and performance Captures risks at sector and country level F&C ESG score Red Orange Yellow Green 50% 50% Coverage of 3,500 companies Company score Country / sector risk 33% 33% 33% 50% 50% Environment score Social score Governance score Country score Sector score ESG Score in investment process Red rated companies investigated by analysts No material implications for credit No action taken Issue identified F&C Credit rating changes discussed Potential change in portfolio positioning Source: F&C, underlying data providers include SustainAlytics and GMI 8

9 Voting & Engagement Voting & Engagement Voting / engagement can be combined with both active and passive management Goal is to influence company behaviour through dialogue Should lead to better performance (financial, sustainability) Engagement can lead to exclusions 9

10 Impact Investing Impact investing Definition from Global Impact Investing Network: Impact investments are investments made with the intention to generate measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. Impact investments target a range of returns from below market to market rate, depending upon the circumstances. Passive investment is difficult (if not impossible) because of the specific charachteristics (liquidity, transparency, non listed) What is benchmark? Is tracking / replication possible Impact on sustainability can be high Chosing for impact investing puts larger burden on investor (costs, governance, transparency) How does this fit with your investment beliefs? What is your goal? 10

11 Conclusion Does the investment style (active or passive) effect the sustainable investment policy of an investor or vice versa? Yes, but effect goes both ways They are linked through the investment process Issues / implications to look at are: Expected return / Risk Governance Costs Benchmarks Defining goals and investment beliefs can help the investor in making decisions 11