Implications of "Best Interest" Rule for Annuities
Aaron Levitt
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With broker-dealers and agents now acting in favor of clients, investors may be...
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Walker, Lopatta and Kaspereit developed a specific sustainability factor that augments traditional asset pricing models. They called their sustainability factor GMU (or “green” minus “unsustainable”). The GMU scores are based on data from the MSCI KLD database, which is considered the gold standard and is widely used in sustainability research.
The GMU factor was tested by splitting stocks into quintile portfolios based exclusively on a sustainability score. Quintile 1 contained stocks with the lowest sustainability scores while Quintile 5 contained stocks with the highest. Portfolios were rebalanced annually. After creating the five test portfolios, the value-weighted returns of these portfolios were regressed on the four factors of market beta, size, value and momentum, as well as the new sustainability factor. The study covered the period from June 1992 through June 2012.
In addition, the average coefficient estimate on the sustainability factor is significantly negative for funds with sustainability screens, and only slightly less than the average coefficient for a control sample of 11,150 conventional U.S. domestic equity funds. A possible explanation is that the GMU factor, which is based on the MSCI KLD rating, captures a different definition of sustainability than the sustainability criteria maintained by most mutual funds in the sample. Another explanation is that not all stocks have a KLD rating. And finally, it’s possible that the investment process of these mutual funds fraudulently diverges from their alleged focus.
For example, Harrison Hong and Marcin Kacperczyk — authors of the study The Price of Sin: The Effects of Social Norms on Markets, which appeared in the July 2009 issue of The Journal of Financial Economics — found that for the period from 1965 through 2006, a portfolio long sin stocks and short their comparables had a return of 0.29% per month after adjusting for a four-factor model composed of the three Fama-French factors (beta, size and value) and the momentum factor.
Similarly, as we mentioned last week, the authors of a study appearing in the November 2015 issue of the Journal of Banking and Finance — Do Social Factors Influence Investment Behavior and Performance? Evidence from Mutual Fund Holdings — found that funds more invested in “sin” stocks display higher risk-adjusted performance.
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Walker, Lopatta and Kaspereit developed a specific sustainability factor that augments traditional asset pricing models. They called their sustainability factor GMU (or “green” minus “unsustainable”). The GMU scores are based on data from the MSCI KLD database, which is considered the gold standard and is widely used in sustainability research.
The GMU factor was tested by splitting stocks into quintile portfolios based exclusively on a sustainability score. Quintile 1 contained stocks with the lowest sustainability scores while Quintile 5 contained stocks with the highest. Portfolios were rebalanced annually. After creating the five test portfolios, the value-weighted returns of these portfolios were regressed on the four factors of market beta, size, value and momentum, as well as the new sustainability factor. The study covered the period from June 1992 through June 2012.
In addition, the average coefficient estimate on the sustainability factor is significantly negative for funds with sustainability screens, and only slightly less than the average coefficient for a control sample of 11,150 conventional U.S. domestic equity funds. A possible explanation is that the GMU factor, which is based on the MSCI KLD rating, captures a different definition of sustainability than the sustainability criteria maintained by most mutual funds in the sample. Another explanation is that not all stocks have a KLD rating. And finally, it’s possible that the investment process of these mutual funds fraudulently diverges from their alleged focus.
For example, Harrison Hong and Marcin Kacperczyk — authors of the study The Price of Sin: The Effects of Social Norms on Markets, which appeared in the July 2009 issue of The Journal of Financial Economics — found that for the period from 1965 through 2006, a portfolio long sin stocks and short their comparables had a return of 0.29% per month after adjusting for a four-factor model composed of the three Fama-French factors (beta, size and value) and the momentum factor.
Similarly, as we mentioned last week, the authors of a study appearing in the November 2015 issue of the Journal of Banking and Finance — Do Social Factors Influence Investment Behavior and Performance? Evidence from Mutual Fund Holdings — found that funds more invested in “sin” stocks display higher risk-adjusted performance.
Receive email updates about best performers, news, CE accredited webcasts and more.
Aaron Levitt
|
With broker-dealers and agents now acting in favor of clients, investors may be...
Justin Kuepper
|
Let’s take a look at what sets China apart from other emerging markets,...
News
Iuri Struta
|
Check out the latest edition of mutual fund scorecard.
Find out why $30 trillon is invested in mutual funds.
Download our free report
Find out why $30 trillon is invested in mutual funds.
Download our free report
Find out why $30 trillon is invested in mutual funds.
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|
Let's take a closer look at how ESG investments have outperformed during the...
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