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Global rules on foreign direct investment (FDI)
Cross-border acquisitions and investments increasingly trigger foreign direct investment (FDI) screening requirements.
Global | Publication | December 2019
Some of the world’s largest pension funds and asset managers are drawing up plans for mandatory corporate reporting of climate issues and carbon pricing, among other actions, as outlined on day 8 of COP25 in Madrid. A panel moderated by Sir Nicholas Stern, attracted some of the largest pension funds and asset managers globally including Aviva, the Japanese Government Pension Fund, the Danish Pension Fund PFA, Allianz (also representing the Asset Owners Alliance, members of which commit to reduce carbon emissions of their investment portfolios to net-zero by 2050), the German Central Cooperative Bank and BNPP.
Each was tasked with identifying action required for governments to drive transformative change through finance. Key takeaways called for were:
In terms of action, examples include the Japanese Government Pension Fund (the world’s biggest pension fund) making Environmental, social and governance (ESG) a key decision point in its selection of asset managers. The organization is also pushing a change of benchmark indexes that it uses to provide a greater ESG focus. Aviva is looking to embed climate change expertise within debt and equity teams with the objective of backing the right investments, and diverting capital away from those not part of the climate fight. The German Central Cooperative Bank representative provided a series of actionable suggestions, including building sustainable development bond purchasing directly into sovereign bonds to mainstream them quickly, and using FinTech and document standardization to speed up access to green bonds.
Whilst the commitment of business to mitigating climate change is not new, it is clear that global pension funds and other key financial players recognize the gravity of the risks facing the planet if transformative change does not happen in the 2020s. The key takeaway was a call for governments to catch up.
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Cross-border acquisitions and investments increasingly trigger foreign direct investment (FDI) screening requirements.
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On February 2, 2024, the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union confirmed that the Committee of Permanent Representatives had signed the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Regulation, referred to as the AI Act. Approval by the EU Parliament followed on 13 March 2024, and the AI Act is likely to appear in the EU’s Official Journal around May 2024. The AI Act aims to establish a stringent legal framework governing the development, marketing, and utilisation of artificial intelligence within the region, thereby marking a significant advancement in the regulation of this burgeoning domain.
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The private credit market and direct lending have grown and diversified immensely in the past decade, offering alternative sources and terms of debt compared to those historically provided by the syndicated leveraged loan and public issuance markets. Consequently, they are fast becoming pivotal components in the capital ecosystem, so much so that the Bank of England consider that the private credit market is currently responsible for approximately $1.8 trillion of debt issuance, which is four times its size in 2015. This growth has been particularly pronounced in Europe and the US but there has also been significant activity in Asia.
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