Northern Trust Rolls Out Carbon Footprint Data

Northern Trust will offer environmental emission analytics which it said will enable institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals to effectively measure the carbon footprint of their investments.

A Northern Trust news release said the data will be available globally, but is being rolled out to European clients first. The environmental analytics are based on data from Trucost Plc, a U.K. firm, through the Style Research Portfolio Analyzer (SRPA).

“Increasingly, we are seeing investors turn their attention towards measures that attempt to accurately attribute environmental impact as an extension to established performance and risk analytics,” said Peter Holman, head of client servicing for institutional investors in EMEA, at Northern Trust, in the news release. “But the ability to accurately assess the carbon footprint of a portfolio is largely constrained by the lack of consistent or comprehensive environmental data disclosed by companies.”

According to the news release, Northern Trust also has more than $9 billion in socially screened assets under management, including index options such as the Northern Global Sustainability Index Fund.

Ascensus Revamps Adviser Proposal

Ascensus said it unveiled a 2010 proposal for financial advisers selling its plans.

The retirement plan solutions provider said the proposal provides clear points about the company’s open-architecture investment platform, participant education programs, and technology solutions for plan management. It also discusses Ascensus’ ability to offer tailored plan design options based on an organization’s size, demographics, and objectives, the company said.

Ascensus said the new proposal can be customized to illustrate either the full-service model or a third-party administrator (TPA) for compliance-only services.

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