Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute (AFII)

8 November 2023 –  The Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute (AFII), the research organisation empowering fixed income investors to drive the climate transition, today announces that Umang Vithlani has joined as Research Director, based in London.

Umang has been in the credit markets for over 20 years, managing largely Investment Grade portfolios. He was Head of Credit and Senior Portfolio Manager at Fideuram Asset Management in Ireland for nearly a decade. Previously a Senior Credit Hedge Fund Manager at Aviva Investors, Umang held credit strategy and derivatives roles at ING, Calypso Technology and T.D. Securities. He has a BA in Accounting and Law from the University of Manchester.

Ulf Erlandsson, Founder and CEO, AFII said: “Umang’s experience as a senior asset manager will be hugely beneficial to AFII, as our aim is to provide credit practitioners like him with practical solutions that help them reach sustainability goals, manage and price climate risk, and deliver returns.”

Umang added, “As a credit portfolio manager, I have witnessed first-hand the growth and development of ESG instruments in fixed income. This market has huge potential to finance positive impact across countries and corporations. Joining AFII gives me the opportunity to help asset managers and owners transition their portfolios by providing research and tools drawn from direct experience of the challenges they face.”

27 June 2023 –  The Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute (AFII), the research organisation empowering fixed income investors to drive the climate transition, today announces that Kamesh Korangi has joined as Quant Credit Strategist.

Based in London, Kamesh is focused on developing AFII’s portfolio analytics suite for climate risk. 

Kamesh will manage a multi-asset credit model portfolio, assisting managers in decarbonising their fixed income investments by applying AFII’s Fixed Income Optimisation for Net zero Alignment (FIONA) framework. He will also develop innovative market research targeting fixed income practitioners and academic partners.

An experienced credit derivatives and bond trader, Kamesh is simultaneously pursuing a PhD at the University of Southampton, UK. His research focuses on developing cutting-edge methods for risk management under market complexity and illiquidity. Kamesh has a particular interest in applying big data and AI techniques to credit risk management, portfolio optimisation and systemic risk. 

Ulf Erlandsson, Founder and CEO, AFII said of Kamesh’s appointment: “Kamesh’s exceptional credit risk and modelling skills will be hugely beneficial as we develop our portfolio tools for fixed income investors. Complementing our research analyses, these tools provide practitioners with the practical steps and solutions they need to transition their portfolios to net zero.

Kamesh added, “AFII is doing something unique in fixed income, providing applicable research that demonstrates where and how change can be made in portfolios - pricing climate risk and protecting returns – while shining a light on retrograde practices. I am excited to apply my experience of managing risk across the fixed income spectrum to support AFII’s mission.”

9 May 2023 –  The Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute (AFII), the research organisation empowering fixed income investors to drive the climate transition, today announces that Catherine Greene has joined as Chief Impact Officer.

Based in London, Catherine leads AFII’s impact strategy, identifying and tracking the engagement of the fixed income investment community with AFII’s ground-breaking research and portfolio management tools. Through performance measurement and reporting, AFII will demonstrate that the $130 trillion fixed income market can have a powerful, positive impact on climate outcomes. 

Catherine has over 20 years’ experience in the financial industry, predominantly in hedge funds and private equity asset allocation while at Prudential M&G, a family office and International Asset Management. 

Catherine returned to university to study for a PhD in Philosophy at the London School of Economics (LSE) and following this became a Strategic Adviser for organisational ethics firm, Principia Advisory. Alongside her role at AFII, Catherine is a Research Associate at the LSE. 

Justine Leigh-Bell, Executive Director, AFII said of Catherine’s appointment: “AFII’s mission is to provide fixed income investors with the insights and tools they need to align their portfolios with ambitious climate targets. Drawing on her experience of financial institutions and stakeholders, Catherine will enable us to convincingly demonstrate the impact of our work.”

Catherine added, “AFII is delivering uniquely powerful research and insights that provide asset owners and managers with the ability to transition their fixed income portfolios to net zero. My aim is to ensure that AFII’s impact is clearly measured and transparent, both to encourage investors to engage with our mission and ensure that our backers can see the results of their generosity.”

10 November 2022 – The Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute (AFII), a research organization that empowers fixed income investors to drive the climate transition, and Climate Smart Ventures (CSV), an advisory firm based in Singapore focused on corporate energy transition plans that shift coal assets to renewables, are excited to announce their Transition-Southeast Asia (T-SEA) partnership. 

T-SEA will develop compelling financing opportunities for corporates with ambitious plans to move to more sustainable operations, with an initial focus on the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Key to this will be to ensure funding is available through transition and sustainable finance structures, such as Sustainability-Linked Bonds (SLBs) and other labelled debt.   

T-SEA will proactively engage with and match global investors to potential corporate issuers with credible coal retirement targets that require financing to enable the transition. The partnership will work closely with corporate issuers from across Southeast Asia to design SLB and labelled debt structures that will both meet investor expectations and have the potential to deliver a lower cost of capital to corporates with ambitious and transparent carbon reduction plans.    

Justine Leigh-Bell, Executive Director, AFII: “AFII’s market practitioners’ approach combined with CSV’s track record for delivering successful transactions that advance Southeast Asia’s energy transition make this partnership a timely step in addressing the enormous funding gap for corporate decarbonisation in the region. 

“To reach global climate targets, financing needs to be made available to carbon-intensive industries to invest in their transition. T-SEA will help to ensure that the debt instruments are designed to deliver a meaningful transition. AFII’s research shows that ambitious SLBs have the potential to deliver a lower cost-of-capital to corporate issuers.”

Lawrence Ang, Managing Partner, CSV: “There is strong appetite in Southeast Asia among many corporates for alternative financing to support their move to clean energy, including active stewardship of their coal and fossil fuel assets towards an accelerated retirement. It is essential that these opportunities are funded and matched by motivated investors with similar goals in terms of sustainability and risk and returns. This is while ensuring workers and affected communities are not left behind by the transition.

“We’re excited about the potential of T-SEA to help create a way forward for companies that are serious about delivering on climate goals.”   

Media contact: 

Emma Thorpe

eth@anthropocenefii.org

+44 7909 974958

26 May, 2022, London/Geneva – The UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZAOA) and the Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute (AFII) have announced today their collaboration with an overarching objective to promote net-zero alignment in global fixed-income markets. 

Fixed income is an important asset class for institutional investors and this strategic collaboration will build on AFII’s technical knowledge and expertise to support NZAOA members decarbonise their investment portfolios.

AFII’s founder and CEO, Ulf Erlandsson, has been a long-standing advocate of empowering fixed income markets to drive the climate transition since his days as a credit portfolio manager at the Swedish pension fund AP4. This led Erlandsson to set up AFII with the aim to influence the investment decisions made by bond portfolio managers and traders that could change cost-of-capital in favour of a sustainable future.

AFII’s market practitioner’s approach to embedding positive climate impact across credit portfolios along with NZAOA members’ demonstrated leadership to achieve alignment with the Paris Agreement in their investment portfolios makes this collaboration a timely step in addressing blind spots in fixed-income markets.

Ulf Erlandsson, CEO, AFII: “We are extremely pleased to enter into this collaboration and look forward to the NZAOA members’ input into what are the most important issues for asset owners in driving fixed income climate impact. We seek for AFII’s insights and analysis to serve as a valuable and portfolio relevant resource for NZAOA members.”

Justine Leigh-Bell, Executive Director, AFII: “With the largest pools of capital in the world, asset owners have a unique role to play in driving the net-zero transition through portfolio re-alignment and targeted corporate engagement. We are committed to supporting the NZAOA members achieve their strategic objectives and look forward to our collaboration.”

Erik Bennike, Head of Credit, PensionDanmark: ”We are very pleased that the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance will enter into a closer cooperation with AFII, and we look forward to continue to have many useful dialogues and interactions. AFII’s focused approach to climate related issues in the fixed income markets with emphasis on hard cases fills a gap in the coverage of traditional ESG research providers that will be of great mutual benefit.”

Remco Fischer, UNEP FI Programme Officer for Climate and NZAOA Secretariat Co-Lead: “NZAOA members are very much looking forward to benefitting from the Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute’s deep and technical knowledge regarding the decarbonisation of global fixed income portfolios. While listed equity markets are very much in focus in the engagement and the decarbonisation debate, fixed income is for most asset owners the key asset class for steering their investment portfolios to net-zero emissions.”