Sustainalytics Insight: Voice of the Asset Owner
Asset owners wear many hats as they navigate an increasingly challenging landscape and successfully manage a consistently challenging and dynamic set of responsibilities, according to the qualitative phase of the third annual Morningstar Voice of the Asset Owner Survey.
The first phase of Morningstar’s two-part annual joint study between Morningstar Indexes and Morningstar Sustainalytics is designed to take the temperature of asset owners globally on key issues related to investment policy, management of key stakeholders, sustainable investment approaches and the strength of market data providers. Earlier this year, Morningstar spoke with thirteen of the world’s leading asset owners across North America, Europe and Asia.
Arnold Gast – ESG Research Director, Morningstar Sustainalytics:
“As fiduciaries for some of the largest pools of investment capital in the world, asset owners may sometimes seem to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. From global investment manager, to communicator and facilitator, to steward of global capital, to operations manager, asset owners are continually seeking to strike the right balance between outward facing and inward facing areas of focus to do their job effectively. Our recent qualitative survey helped to surface some of the key challenges for this very influential community of investors.”
One-on-one discussions in recent months with asset owners identified geopolitical developments, communications with plan boards and key stakeholders, implementation of sustainable investment strategies and keeping up with increasing regulatory and transparency requirements as top-of-mind. These observations set the stage for the broader quantitative survey of 500 asset owners to be fielded later this year.
To speak in more detail with Arnold, reach out to Tim Benedict at [email protected] or (203) 339-1912.
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