Since the emergence of “Modern Portfolio Theory” and the “Capital Asset Pricing Model” in the late 1960s, institutional investors have taken a quantitatively driven approach to portfolio construction, looking to create portfolio diversification and obtain better risk-adjusted returns by balancing their asset-class exposures. This journey has seen several important advancements in thinking about how to optimally achieve desired results.
Funds that want to take the total portfolio approach first need to get the total portfolio view. To do that they not only need data – and lots of it – but a rock-solid understanding of exactly how they’re going to use it.
Bfinance ups the ante with ESG
bfinance has recruited its first senior executive dedicated to ESG, coinciding with a commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 across its business, including manager searches.
The global funds management search and research advisory firm has appointed Sarita Gosrani as ESG and responsible investment director. She heads up the new ESG advisory unit based in London.
Gosrani was formerly head of ESG research at XPS Pensions Group, where she helped lead the firm’s approach to responsible investing and supported clients with integrating ESG considerations in their investment strategies.
Alongside this, she was responsible for developing asset manager research and monitoring frameworks to assess ESG across a range of asset classes. She will report to Duncan Higgs, a managing director and head of portfolio solutions at bfinance.
In a statement last week, bfinance, which has an active Australia and New Zealand office led by Fithjof van Zyp in Sydney, the firm also announced its commitment to supporting the goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or sooner in line with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. This commitment includes:
- Working with asset-owner clients to support net zero goals and strategies
- Integrating support with net zero ‘as standard’ into existing consulting services such as manager research and selection, and
- Pledging to establish appropriate emissions reduction targets across direct operations.
David Vafai, the chief executive, said: “We believe in keeping responsible investment matters firmly at the heart of the research and client consulting teams, as has been the approach to date.
“The creation of a dedicated ESG resource is intended to support and enhance the ESG-related work of those teams, as well as enabling us to offer some additional advisory support to clients.”
Bfinance already has an ESG and Responsible Investment Committee, of which Vafai is a member.
