Impact Cubed CIO to Increase “Outcomes” Focus
Newly-created position to provide more cohesive leadership as company enhances services for asset owners and investment managers.
ESG investment solutions provider Impact Cubed is planning to roll out a series of services and tools this year aimed at strengthening its focus on investment advice across the three pillars of risk, return and sustainable investment.
To meet these objectives, the company has created a new position of chief investment officer (CIO), and selected Antonia Lim to fill this role.
“We’re seeing investors increasingly recognising the importance of outcomes, and those outcomes need to be understandable and easy to communicate,” Lim told ESG Investor. “Impact Cubed is well placed for this change, because rather than using ratings that are somewhat opaque, it’s a real number that you can explain to your stakeholders and clients.”
She added that the company is building more tools around performance, and how that can help shape investors’ understanding of the prevailing environment.
“We will develop products in line with our client needs, so custom indices and some thematics are in the pipeline,” said Lim.
Lim brings 24 years of quantitative investing and research to the company, having held positions at both multinational banking group Barclays and at global investment manager Schroders.
Impact Cubed designs investment strategies for clients with three dimensions in mind: risk, return and sustainability. The firm says the use of quantitative data enables investors to tailor their portfolios more precisely and enhance their ability to optimise across risk, return, and impact dimensions.
In the coming months, Impact Cubed intends to roll out a new suite of sustainable investment tools and hands on advice designed to augment investment objectives and support optimal investment across these three dimensions.
This year the firm has already unveiled the Sustainability Performance Attribution service, which allows investors to see how their returns differ from the benchmark.
Next quarter Impact Cubed is set to launch client customisable ethical screens. This will be followed by other initiatives, including compliance monitoring, fund validation, and products that provide materiality assessments in line with international accounting standards.
Collectively the tools look to support asset owners and investment managers in designing their portfolio objectives and investment strategy, implementing and monitoring that strategy, and tailoring reporting to the client’s specific objectives.
Impact Cubed told ESG Investor in a statement that the position had been created in response to the firm’s increasingly “diverse and complex” offering. “We felt it was the right time to introduce dedicated leadership to provide strategic oversight and ensure cohesive stewardship across our business. This role will help us continue to innovate while maintaining the high standards our clients expect.”
Doubling down
Lim’s core responsibilities in the newly-created CIO role will include overseeing the end-to-end development of Impact Cubed’s investment advisory services and products, as part of a strategy to ensure their alignment with the firms’ “core mission of accelerating the allocation of capital to a sustainable future”.
Impact Cubed has more than £10 billion in assets under advisement, which the firm is looking to double by the middle of next year. The company has offered advanced investment solutions, advice and analytics, including custom benchmarks, to some of the world’s largest pension funds. It has more than 50 clients including Alliance Bernstein, BMO GAM, Columbia Threadneedle and S&P DJI.
Lim added that under her direction the company will forge new strategic partnerships and enhance its industry engagement.
“We’ll be doing that through investing in the talent we have, and bringing in more talent as we continue to scale up our operations,” said Lim. “This strategy is about real cohesion across the firm, so people understand what they’re part of and what we’re doing, and having clear milestones.”
Lim joins Impact Cubed from Schroders, where she spent five years as head of quantamental investments. At the global investment manager, Lim played a central role in establishing their bespoke solution capabilities and leading a 100-person initiative to improve sustainability measures.
Prior to Schroders, Lim served as Barclays’ global head of quantitative research for seven years and held key responsibilities within the chief investment office. This included setting the asset allocation and investment philosophy for the firm’s US$180 billion wealth and investment management business. She was also responsible for long-term client outcomes and the end-to-end investment process.
“Joining Impact Cubed felt like a natural progression,” said Lim. “My personal mission is to contribute to informed, fair and efficient allocation of capital and resources. A core part of the company’s mission is to leverage their data and their investment expertise to drive capital sustainable future.
“I’ve been on the other side of the investment process, so I know where there’s challenges and where you want a specialist,” she added. “Impact Cubed offers that coherence and is well placed, because they’ve got that background as investors, while most ESG data providers aren’t coming from that direction.”
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