AMP has announced a new addition to its board. The company confirmed that Michael Hirst will join the board as an independent non-executive director starting from 1 July. Mr Hirst has over 40 years’ experience in board and senior executive leadership roles, including serving as the chief executive of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank from 2009-18.

Over 400 investors have banded together to urge all world governments to “get climate policy right”, warning that trillions of dollars in investment will be jeopardised if they drag their feet. Exactly 457 investors managing more than US$41 trillion in assets have released the joint “2021 global investor statement to governments on the climate crisis”, calling for climate-related financial reporting to not only be improved, but also mandatory. “We believe that those who set ambitious targets in line with achieving net-zero emissions, and implement consistent national climate policies in the short-to-medium term, will become increasingly attractive investment destinations,” the statement, developed by the seven founding partners of The Investor Agenda, read.

“Full implementation of the Paris Agreement will create significant investment opportunities in clean technologies, green infrastructure and other assets, products and services needed in this new economy.”

The statement outlines five “priority actions” for governments to undertake prior to the United Nations Climate Conference of the Parties (COP26) this November, including:

1. Strengthen their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) for 2030 in line with limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
2. Commit to a domestic mid-century, net-zero emissions target and outline a pathway with ambitious interim targets including clear decarbonisation road maps for each carbon-intensive sector.
3. Implement domestic policies to deliver these targets, incentivise private investments in zero-emissions solutions and ensure ambitious pre-2030 action.
4. Ensure COVID-19 economic recovery plans support the transition to net-zero emissions and enhance resilience.
5. Commit to implementing mandatory climate risk disclosure requirements aligned with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations.

The statement will remain open for more investors to sign until COP26.

The rest of this article can be found at investordaily.com.au.

The local ETF industry has reached a “fresh all-time high” in growth in May. The growth, which the BetaShares report credits to sharemarket appreciation and robust net inflows, ended last month at a total market cap of $111.7 billion, a growth of 3 per cent month-on-month. The biggest performance in May came from gold miners and gold bullion products including MNRS (10.7 per cent) and BetaShares’ hedged gold bullion ETF (7.6 per cent).

Further to this, the last 12 months saw a 75 per cent increase of $47.7 billion – the highest dollar value increase in that period of time in the industry’s history. Last month also saw a significant spike in international equities products. While exposure has consistently been strong for the year, over $1 billion of the ETF industry’s net flows (75 per cent) came from overseas equities products.

The rest of this article can be found at investordaily.com.au.

The funds management giant has launched a new offering that it says will solve many of the complications and trade-offs involved in managing money for retiree investors. Magellan’s FuturePay, which launched to the market this week, will “help investors and their advisors to meet the challenges of establishing a regular income from their accumulated savings”, according to the fund manager’s chief executive Brett Cairns. “If you’re looking for predictable income in retirement, it often means accepting a lower income and with limited growth, and you might have to dip into capital to achieve that,” Mr Cairns told attendees at a launch event on Tuesday.