RI Briefing, July 12: FINSIF, Irish Stock Exchange, ASrIA, M&G

FINSIF, Finland’s Sustainable Investment Forum, was officially launched with 18 founding members last month. FINSIF will be chaired by Anna Hyrske, senior advisor at Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co. Link

The Irish Stock Exchange is consulting on a revised corporate governance code for Irish listed companies, to be based on the UK Corporate Governance Code. The deadline for responses is August 13. Contact: Mike Duignan, Head of Market Supervision here

There are now more than 400 socially responsible investing funds in Asia, according to the ASrIA (Association for Sustainable & Responsible Investment in Asia) SRI Funds Portal – a rise of 70% since May 2008. ASrIA also has some new members: Bloomberg, Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management and Unitus Capital. Link

The Australian Council of Super Investors has found a decrease in sustainability reporting practices at S&P/ASX 200 companies. The ACSI said 113 companies provided little or no reporting on sustainability. It sees a “widening gap” between companies which is a clear point of difference for investors.

M&G Investments is reportedly seeking to raise up to £1bn (€1.2bn) this year for a fund to invest in index-linked social-housing debt, writes Financial News. The firm said it was talking to housing associations and pension schemes about the idea.

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution calling on EU governments to give their full backing to the international Convention on Cluster Munitions. Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Turkey have yet to sign the convention. It hasn’t been ratified by Bulgaria,Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden. Announcement

Chief executives of FTSE 100 companies have received pay rises of 5% since 2008 to give an average of £3.1m, while earnings per share fell by 1% over the same period, according to the Total Remuneration 2010 survey by pay consultants MM&K and corporate governance group Manifest, reports The Guardian.

Nearly half of shareholders (47%) voted against the boardroom pay policy or abstained at Tesco, the UK supermarket group, at its AGM – one of the biggest anti-votes on pay in recent years.

Trillium Asset Management and Ceres, the US investor group, have both noted that proxy proposals aimed ESG issues gained more shareholder support during this year’s proxy season. Standout votes were 53.1% share at Massey Energy 60.3% at water services firm Layne Christensen. www.ceres.org

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is to hold an open meeting on July 14 to consider revisions to its proxy voting rules to promote greater “efficiency and transparency”. Announcement

The Global Reporting Initiative and the Carbon Disclosure Project have issued a document linking the GRI’s Reporting Guidelines and CDP’s 2010 Questionnaire. It outlines how reporting entities can use or adapt the same data in both reporting processes, as there is an overlap. Release

The $12bn Kansas Public Employees Retirement System has made a further allocation to timber. Pensions & Investments said the fund has put $60m with timber manager Campbell Group. The move follows a $60m commitment to Molpus Woodlands in January 2010. Report