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Investment Governance for Fiduciaries
Governance is a word that is increasingly heard and read in modern times, be it corporate governance, global governance, or investment governance. Investment governance refers to the effective employment of resources—people, policies, processes, and systems—by an individual or governing body (the fiduciary or agent) seeking to fulfill their fiduciary duty to a principal (or beneficiary) in addressing an underlying investment challenge. Throughout COVID-19, the financial sector’s place in the economy and its methods and ethics have (again) been under scrutiny. Coupled with these challenges, the task of investment governance is of increasing importance due to the sheer weight of money, the retirement savings gap, demographic trends, regulation and activism, and rising standards of behaviour based on higher expectations from those fiduciaries serve. These trends are at the same time related and self-reinforcing. Based on our recent CFA Institute Research Foundation monograph, Investment Governance for Fiduciaries (Drew & Walk, 2019), we will examine how trustees from some of the world’s largest pool of funds, fulfil their fiduciary duties when addressing investment challenges and explore frameworks for good governance of ‘other people’s money’. The seminar will consider the significance of investment governance; catalysts and responses; achieving outcomes for beneficiaries; and, best practice stewardship.
Michael E. Drew is a managing partner of MGD Private and a professor of finance at Griffith University. He is a financial economist specializing in the areas of investment governance, pension plan design, and outcome-oriented investing. Professor Drew’s research has been published in leading practitioner journals, including the Financial Analysts Journal and a Journal of Portfolio Management. He has been invited to make submissions and to testify before numerous committees, including the US Department of Labor and the SEC joint hearing on target-date funds. Professor Drew serves as a trustee director and member of the investment committee at QSuper, is a member of the Investment Advisory Board of the Petroleum Fund of Timor-Leste, and a trustee of Mary Aikenhead Ministries. He received his PhD in economics from the University of Queensland, is an Accredited Investment Fiduciary Analyst®, and is a Life Member of FINSIA, the Financial Services Institute of Australasia.
Professor Michael Drew, Professor Finance, Griffith University (Australia)
