THE 10x10 REPORT
Conversations with experts. Insights for you.
In 3Q 2021, Russell Investments held its annual Partner Innovation Lab, a roundtable event where large asset owners from various geographies brainstorm their greatest concerns and areas of interest. We asked Cerulli Associates to interview participating organizations, as well as some of our asset management partners, to extract individual perspectives on topics discussed at the event. The result is a three-part series covering Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, Climate Change Investing, and Investors' Methods for Seeking Returns.
Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
When Russell Investments asked some of its largest asset owner clients about their key challenges, navigating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) was near the top of the list. How is DEI success defined? How are firms and their peers achieving DEI success internally? And how are institutional investors evaluating asset managers for DEI?
Climate Change Investing
Who's leading the way on investing for the E in ESG? What's driving progress and innovation? What's preventing it? And why is climate change a priority for some organizations and managers more than others? This report will look at climate-change investing with the objectives of both asset managers and asset owners firmly in hand.
Investors' Methods for Seeking Returns
If the low-return environment is real, then what are both asset managers and asset owners doing about it? How are both groups addressing low interest rates. How large of a role do they expect private markets and alternatives to play in portfolios? And what impact has downward fee pressure put on both asset manager and asset owners?
About the participants
Participating institutional investors included the following corporate retirement plan sponsors, in alphabetical order: The Boeing Company, Fujitsu Global, Mazda Motor Corporation, Microsoft, Mitsubishi Electric, Nestlé, Roche and Unilever. It also included the following non-profit investors: The New York Presbyterian Hospital, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Thomas Jefferson University.
Participating alternative asset managers included: Brevan Howard, Hamilton Lane and Oaktree Capital Management. Participating fixed-income asset managers included: BlueBay Asset Management and Western Asset Management Company. And participating multi-asset-class managers included BlackRock, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Morgan Stanley, Putnam Investments and Wellington Management.
Collective wisdom on the future of institutional investing