Responsible Investor

RI Global news round-up week 06/02/08

RI’s bite-sized round-up of the week’s responsible investment news.

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) the Committee on Workers’ Capital (CWC) and Euresa Institute, have signed a memorandum of understanding to promote environmental, social and governance criteria (ESG) in the companies in which they hold shares. The organisations are shareholders via involvement in pension and savings fund as well as cooperative, mutual and non-profit insurance companies or asset managers. The four said they would develop cooperation between their respective shareholding networks to share analysis and voting recommendations with respect to given companies prior to annual general meetings. They said they could also join forces for collaborations on responsible investment issues.
Alastair Ross Goobey, the renowned UK fund manager and leading corporate governance supporter has died at the age of 62.
Goobey was chief executive of Hermes Pension Management 1993 until 2001 and instigator of the shareholder engagement funds at Hermes Focus Asset Management. He remained chairman of Hermes into his retirement. Ross Goobey was also chairman of the International Corporate Governance Network.
Obituary of Alistair Ross Goobey in The Times newspaper
Institutional investors are increasingly turning to securities class actions (SCAs) in the US to recoup investment losses and tackle white-collar crime, according to a report by The Corporate Library, a

US governance research house. The study found that new securities class action filings rose 43% in 2007, notably in newer areas such as sub-prime mortgage and related real estate cases, as well as failed IPOs and mergers. It said 2008 was likely to be “another year of increased litigation” featuring the “growing involvement” of institutional investors. The study, titled: “Predicting Securities Litigation,” said: “This may prove particularly true in 2008, not because there is any more such crime to tackle, but rather because of a growing willingness by these institutions to go after whatever white-collar crime exists at public corporations.” The Corporate Library said institutional investors hold more than 60% of the traded stock at nearly all companies subject to SCAs. Public pension funds were assigned lead-plaintiff status in 14 out of 25 cases filed in 2007. The study noted that “public pension funds in particular have grown increasingly comfortable with the use of (securities class-action litigation) not only to recoup very real investment losses, but also to signal to their political constituencies a willingness to tackle head-on the spectre of white-collar crime.”
Ethos, the Geneva-based foundation which looks after CHF2.3bn (€1.4bn) in assets run on a socially responsible basis on behalf of Swiss pension funds, has renewed its call for shareholder support to force UBS, the Swiss banking group, to bring in external investigators to carry out a special audit explaining how it lost $13.7bn (€9.6bn) as a result of the US sub-prime mortgage crisis. UBS is expected to communicate its

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