Michelle Dunstan: In recent years, institutional and retail investors have become more aware of how environmental, social and governance issues impact their investments. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a catalyst for action, and the questions about ESG are growing more urgent:
“How ready were companies and other organizations for the unexpected?”
“Were they able to adapt in order to ensure sustainable growth?”
“How do they look after the welfare of employees and customers?”
These are ESG issues, but they’re also financial issues.
Think about climate change. Governments are committed to a lower carbon future, which will have far-reaching impacts. For an investment manager acting in its clients’ best interests, these ESG issues ARE financial issues: It’s critical to dig into a portfolio’s carbon footprint, and to understand how future carbon taxes or lower carbon alternatives will impact each issuer.
At AB, we don’t believe in a tradeoff between ESG considerations and return considerations. ESG considerations ARE financial considerations.
How ESG Integration Can Improve Risk-Adjusted Returns
As of June 30, 2021
Source: AllianceBernstein (AB)
As of June 30, 2021
Source: AllianceBernstein (AB)
Scott DiMaggio is a Senior Vice President, Head of Fixed Income and a member of the Operating Committee. As Head of Fixed Income, he is responsible for the management and strategic growth of AB’s fixed-income business and investment decisions across the department. DiMaggio has previously served as director of Global Fixed Income and continues to be a portfolio manager across numerous multi-sector and multi-currency strategies. Prior to joining AB’s Fixed Income portfolio-management team, he performed quantitative investment analysis, including asset-liability, asset-allocation, return attribution and risk analysis for the firm. Before joining the firm in 1999, DiMaggio was a risk management market analyst at Santander Investment Securities. He also held positions as a senior consultant at Ernst & Young and Andersen Consulting. DiMaggio holds a BS in business administration from the State University of New York, Albany, and an MS in finance from Baruch College. He is a member of the Global Association of Risk Professionals and a CFA charterholder. Location: New York
Chris Hogbin is the Global Head of Investments for AB. In this broad leadership role, he oversees all the firm’s investment activities. Hogbin is responsible for driving investment success across asset classes, fostering collaboration and sharing best practices across investment teams, as well as leveraging a common infrastructure and evaluating opportunities to invest in capabilities that deliver better outcomes for clients. He is also a member of the firm’s Leadership team and Operating Committee. Hogbin joined AB’s institutional research business in 2005 as a senior analyst covering the European food retail sector. In 2010, he was named to Institutional Investor’s All-Europe Research Team and was ranked as the #1 analyst in his sector in both 2011 and 2012. Hogbin became European director of research for the Sell Side in 2012 and was given additional responsibility for Asian research in 2016. In 2018, he was appointed COO of Equities for AB. In 2019 Hogbin was promoted to co-head of Equities, becoming head of Equities in 2020. Prior to joining the firm, he worked as a strategy consultant for the Boston Consulting Group in London, San Francisco and Shanghai, where he was responsible for the execution of critical business-improvement initiatives for clients in the financial-services and consumer sectors. He holds an MA in economics from the University of Cambridge and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School. He is a trustee of the Public Theater in New York.