As Active Super gets sued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, other super funds will feel pressure to beef up their processes and understanding of ESG to ensure they don't fail under regulatory scrutiny.
The head of ESG at the leading Dutch pension fund notes that investing in Asia requires accommodating social or working practices that may differ from those in Europe. He also flagged a gap in information.
CDPQ and OTPP have no plans to return to the sector, following a pull-out earlier in the year. These moves come after a sharp acceleration in China allocations by Canada's institutional investors over the past decade.
Sales and losses have led to allocations to the region falling by more than a fifth in 15 months. Allocations to Japan, and Taiwan were the most affected, according to central bank data.
A newly announced plan by UK pension funds to make allocations to global private equity markets could see funds allocated to Asia directly or indirectly, experts told AsianInvestor.
Ethiopian Investment Holdings, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, will pursue its asset allocation strategy with proceeds from sales of state companies and assets.
The latest data published by MSCI Real Assets shows total allocations fell 44% in the first half of the year, compared with the same period in 2022. The office sector shows the largest drop in capital flows.