Jason Mitchell

Man Group, the global active investment management firm, has announced the launch of Man Group ESG Analytics, a proprietary, dashboard-style tool enabling the firm’s investment teams to monitor non-financial risks and analyse environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors across single issuers, portfolios and indices. The tool, which further enhances Man Group’s responsible investment (‘RI’) capabilities, also features stewardship data, offering a real-time overview of a portfolio’s proxy voting performance and statistics.

Man Group ESG Analytics was developed internally under the direction of Man Group’s Responsible Investment team, with close collaboration between Man Numeric (the firm’s fundamentally-driven, quantitative investment engine) and Man Group’s risk and performance analysis team and stewardship team. The tool is available to all portfolio management teams across Man Group’s investment engines and can be applied across asset classes as well as to both traditional and alternative investment strategies.

The dashboard embeds a proprietary ESG scoring system derived from Man Numeric’s data research. The system applies advanced data science and quantitative analysis to disaggregate multi-vendor ESG datasets, allowing the tool to generate a holistic score for the sustainability profile and impact of a business. Datasets from three leading ESG data providers – Sustainalytics (ESG scoring and controversies data), MSCI (ESG scoring), and Trucost (environmental data) – are also integrated into the platform, allowing portfolio managers to evaluate a wide variety of company-specific ESG metrics. The dashboard provides investment teams with the ability to drill-down into this data at a company, portfolio and index level to further enhance analysis, making it easier to identify potential ESG risks. A built-in alert function with the ability to set limits on changes in individual or benchmark scores also allows portfolio managers to closely monitor and track movements. Finally, the dashboard displays voting activity, reinforcing fund-level engagement and active ownership by Man Group’s investment teams.

Jason Mitchell, Co-Head of Responsible Investment, Man Group, said: “If the old axiom – what’s measurable is manageable – holds, then more sophisticated approaches and advanced analytics are vital in order to identify and understand all the dimensionality that ESG represents. Man Group ESG Analytics represents three important accomplishments for Man Group: first, it helps demystify and organise the complexity of ESG data for our investment teams and clients; second, it allows us to take an innovative approach to ESG reporting in advance of inevitable regulatory and statutory ESG reporting requirements; and lastly, Man Numeric’s development of a proprietary, uncorrelated ESG factor provides a necessary way for us to not only understand, but ultimately to better measure and manage ESG risks.”

Rob Furdak, Co-Chief Investment Officer, Man Numeric, said: “One of the main challenges that both quantitative and discretionary managers face when incorporating RI into their investment processes is that ESG data is messy and subjective. This requires a different approach to understanding the variables than with traditional factors. Man Numeric’s ESG team has undertaken a stringent process to understand the unique qualities of this data and develop a multi-source, industry-based view of ESG. We are excited by the launch of the ESG Analytics tool and the opportunities this presents for us as a firm.”

The development of the ESG Analytics tool follows the introduction of Man Group’s RI Fund Framework, a formalised structure that quantifies the degree of RI focus for all Man Group funds; and the Man Group RI Exclusions List, a proprietary list of sectors and companies ineligible for the firm’s portfolios.

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Jenny Brown

I’d love to see you and welcome you to fascinating Canberra, our nation’s capital for the AFA 2016 National Adviser Conference, the jewel in the crown for the AFA – October 5-7, 2016.

As a practising adviser, this Conference is always the highlight of my year and I look forward to it as a chance to hear, watch and learn from the best, as well as to catch up with colleagues and friends.

This year’s conference is about ‘Adaptive Change – taking advice beyond the horizon’ and as advisers we need to accept the challenge to think differently, to evolve and to be better prepared for the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.

The AFA has been working tirelessly to be more effective in delivering value for members by improving the positioning and relevance of our association, the results of which will be on show at the conference – whether it has been raising adviser professionalism, stronger relationships and influence with Government, an industry-leading professional education pathway, or the building of a voice to consumers through Your Best Interests – the AFA has laid a strong platform for the future.

As preparations for the 2016 AFA National Adviser Conference approach the final stages, we are absolutely thrilled to be able to bring some amazing keynote speakers to the stage including;

• The Hon John Howard OA AC – Political Leadership
• Dr Ric Charlesworth – High-Performance Leadership
• Dr Adam Fraser – Peak Performance Without the Collateral Damage
• Tony Bongiorno – MDRT Learnings from Around the World
• Dr Jason Mitchell – Academic Leadership
• Brian Freeman – Humanitarian Leadership
• Dr Jason Mitchell, Professor of Psychology Harvard University
• Graham Rich, PortfolioConstruction Forum
• Stephen Halmarick, Chief Economist CFS Global Asset Management
• Joanne Earl, Associate Professor Flinders Business School
• David Reed, Adviser of the Year
• Paul Kearney, Practice of the Year
• Over 30 AFA Members sharing their best practice
• Brad Fox, Scott Moffit, Richard Klipin, Terry Rhodes, Dave Slovinec – Growing the demand for insurance

We have 3 amazing masterclasses from our communities of practice to explore more opportunities;

• Inspire with Margie Warrell
• Genxt with Dr Ric Charlesworth
• Leaders Forum – The AFA community of ideas and sharing

These world class speakers are augmented by a plethora of awesome advisers from our AFA community who are all willing to share the insights, skills and knowledge that they have applied to their own advice practices to ensure they are future proofed and ready to thrive as financial advice is taken beyond the horizon.

The conference committee has listened to members’ feedback and worked hard to build a program that blends exceptional technical knowledge with practical implementation based upon the AFA adviser learning pillars:

• Business Performance
• Adviser Performance
• Advice Strategies
• Professionalism and Learning

Our goal is to provide you with inspiration and load you up with the best ideas, strategies and the tools to implement those ideas to ensure that you can deliver exceptional service for your clients, helping them understand your advice strategies and how you can work with them to build and lead better lives. After all, everything we do is to put our clients and their families into a better situation, to be their trusted adviser.

Also, back by popular demand are our ‘Meet the Professionals’ and ‘Meet the Innovators’ round-table discussions.

With more advisers than ever now choosing to belong to the AFA, we are proud that there is more adviser input to this year’s conference agenda. Hearing from our peers we have always found to be incredibly worthwhile, and remembering that the smartest person in the room may not be the person on stage, it could be the person sitting next to you, or at lunch, or at the dinner function, you will hear a multitude of stories or how advisers solve our client’s problems, how they refine their skills, and we can even learn from their mistakes. Advisers have a unique perspective on the operation of the financial advice profession and all of this knowledge and ongoing learning can be captured and shared for the benefit of all.

So my question to you is, “What is holding you back from taking the next step forward in how you provide advice, how you improve your client experience and client outcomes, and your own profitability?” My bet is the answers can be found at the AFA National Adviser Conference.

But have you booked yet? The answers won’t come to you; you need to come to Conference to get them. In the absence of taking action, nothing will change, so click on to www.afaconference.com.au and register.

Whether you are a new adviser, a practice owner or an employed adviser, this will be a conference to help equip you to serve your client’s needs better, to prepare you for the opportunities ahead and help you take your financial advice beyond the horizon.

We’re looking forward to seeing you in Canberra.

Jenny Brown, Conference Co-Chair

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