At Candriam, we are active owners and debtholders. We exercise our rights when we believe action can enhance long-term value for our clients and ultimate beneficiaries.
While these objectives are laudable, there are methodological obstacles. The initial objectives of Solvency II were harmonization, financial stability and policyholder protection. The text had therefore been conceived as a risk-based regulation, based on the valuation of the balance sheet on a mark-to-market basis and on capital requirements calibrated using Value at Risk (VaR) with a confidence level of 99.5%.
After a challenging period for green investing, marked by rising interest rates, supply chain issues, and overcapacity, companies committed to building a sustainable world could remain an attractive long-term option for investors seeking both financial returns and positive impact.
Despite constraints on both their human and financial capital, Small- and Mid-Sized companies (SMIDs) share similar business ambitions with their larger counterparts while competing for the same talent. They need talent to fuel their growth, yet that rapid growth can strain employees. Attracting and retaining talent, while simultaneously maintaining workforce productivity, poses a challenge.
With the infrastructure sector poised for growth after a tumultuous period caused by the pandemic and subsequent inflationary boom, which areas could offer investment opportunities?
Climate Action, ESG, SRI, Equities, US elections, Marouane Bouchriha
The impact of the 2024 elections on the decarbonization theme is of paramount importance, considering that the year marks a significant electoral period globally with 64 countries and the European Union - representing nearly half of the global population - heading to the polls.
In the vast subject of the challenges and difficulties of climate analysis from an investor's point of view, scope 3 emissions emerge insistently as one of the main stumbling blocks.
After 2022, which covered the end of a decade of monetary policy loosening, 2023 has been the year of the repricing of the whole interest rate curve. The end of Central Banks’ "higher for longer" mantra supported a steepening of the yield curves and repriced real interest rates which are back now in positive territory, for the first time in close to ten years.
Defined as the “stock of renewable and non-renewable natural resources (e.g.,plants, animals, air, water, soils, minerals) that combine to yield a flow of benefits to people” by the Natural Capital Coalition, natural capital is at the source of everything that surrounds us.
COP28 ended with a final statement that can be considered historic, mentioning for the first time the need to transition away from fossil fuels. However, this landmark deal should be considered as the start of a more ambitious journey, that will remain dependent on governments’ ability to step up their commitments and action.
There are several examples of emerging markets where corporate governance standards and ESG disclosure have evolved in recent years, among which China, India, South Korea, Taiwan…
Good news! The five-year survival rate for women diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States is now 90%[1]. Unfortunately, when looking at other statistics, the outlook worrying: one in eight women will develop an invasive form of breast cancer during their lifetime. In 2020, two million new cancer cases were diagnosed worldwide. Breast cancer is the most common cancer type among women and the second deadliest, following lung cancer. To better understand the urgency of treatments: in 2020, 685,000 women lost their lives from breast cancer.
One clear conclusion is that pension fund-related institutions which have not yet embraced ESG will find themselves suddenly launched two squares forward on the chessboard, as they rush to integrate ESG into the overall governance of how they manage or administer pension assets and plans.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been yet another wake-up call for our need for energy independence. While Europe's reliance on Russian gas was evident, Russia is also one of the largest oil producers, exporting half of its production to Europe before February 2022.
Sustainable Finance Disclosures Regulation (SFDR), mandatory ESG disclosure obligations, was introduced by the European Union to improve transparency in the market for sustainable investment.
Research Paper, ESG, SRI, Cemre Aksu, Lucia Meloni
Publicly-traded companises have begun to incorporate ESG performance metrics into their executives’ compensation packages as part of efforts to increase transparency on their accountability vis-à-vis shareholders.
For the portfolio management team in charge of the Global High Yield
strategy, made up of Philippe Noyard, Global Head of Credit, Nicolas
Jullien, CFA, Head of High Yield & Credit Arbitrage and Thomas Joret,
Senior High Yield Fund Manager, combining their 20 years’ expertise
in High-Yield bond investment with ESG (Environmental, Social &
Governance) analysis, represented by Vincent Compiègne, Deputy
Global Head of ESG Investments & Research, has the potential to
outperform significantly over the long term.
Alix Chosson, Marie Niemczyk, Climate Action, ESG, SRI, Research Paper
Our climate is changing faster and faster, bringing our world closer to disastrous social and economic consequences every year. We are reaching the tipping point on every planetary boundary, meaning that at the current pace, we will reach a point of no return in this decade, threatening the future of both our planet and mankind.
Bond investors did have a rough time in 2022. But a new era begun when central banks initiated their forced march of interest rates hikes, bringing some fresh opportunities to investors.
As the March drama unfolds, it might help us to remember the long road that banks have travelled, and the path ahead. Those paths are very different on either side of the Atlantic.