Franklin Templeton Launches Global Bond Portfolio

Franklin Templeton Investments introduced the Templeton Global Total Return Fund, a multi-sector global bond fund designed to capitalize on fixed-income opportunities around the world.

A Franklin news release said the fund invests primarily in fixed and floating-rate bonds of corporations, governments, and government-related issuers worldwide.

In pursuit of total investment return, it is anticipated that the fund will invest in a combination of investment grade and non-investment grade debt. Assets are allocated based on the manager’s assessment of value across countries and sectors, given changing market, political, and economic conditions, as well as an in-depth evaluation of interest rates, exchange rates, and credit risks, according to Franklin.

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“Global bonds are among those asset classes that can support portfolio diversification while benefiting from varying economic conditions around the world,” said Portfolio Manager Michael Hasenstab, senior vice president and co-director of Franklin Templeton Fixed Income Group’s international bond department. “Today’s evolving environment provides global bond investors with the prospects to weather downturns in particular markets, reduce volatility and participate in selective currency and interest rate opportunities.”

EBSA Cautions on SRI Focus

Federal regulators reaffirmed their position that the goal of ERISA plans must be to generate maximum returns to meet pension liabilities and not for socially responsive investing purposes.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) said in a news release that its guidance asserts that plan fiduciaries may never increase expenses, sacrifice investment returns, or reduce the security of plan benefits to promote legislative, regulatory, or public policy goals with no connection to the payment of benefits or plan administrative expenses.

“Fiduciary consideration of non-economic factors should be rare and, when considered, must comply with ERISA’s [Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s] rigorous fiduciary standards,” EBSA officials said in the announcement.

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“Recent events highlight the importance of ensuring secure and transparent retirement savings plans for American workers, retirees and their families,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Employee Benefits Security Administration Bradford P. Campbell, in the news release. “Today the department reiterates and clarifies its longstanding view that workers’ money must be invested and used solely to provide for retirements, not for political, corporate or other purposes.”

Meanwhile, an EBSA bulletin on shareholder rights updates prior guidance issued by the department on the application of ERISA’s fiduciary standards to shareholder activism and proxy voting.

The two interpretive bulletins are to be published Friday in the Federal Register.

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