We’re happy to announce that the Regents’ Committee on
Investments meeting recording finally became available. (Of course, our little
ribbing on the days when it was unavailable couldn’t have had anything to do with
getting things working.) In any event, the meeting began with the usual
overview of developments in the UC portfolio. Much of the discussion, as the
various components of the portfolio were discussed, was that there may be
overvaluation in the stock market and in the value of the dollar in exchange
markets. As a result, future performance of the portfolio was characterized by
terms such as “challenging.” There was much reference to “risk management” and “volatility.”
In particular, there was a request that the Committee approve changes in the
guidelines for the TRIP fund (Total Return Investment Pool), a kind of
longer-term cousin to the more liquid STIP. The requested changes were
approved.
The retirement part of the investments consists of about $55
billion in the traditional defined benefit (DB) plan. But there is also about
$20 billion in the defined contribution (DC) component which consists of what
is formally the defined contribution plan plus the voluntary 403b and 457b
programs. There was reference to the “streamlining” currently underway to
reduce the number of basic options for participant options. (Complaints by faculty that
have recently come to campus and the systemwide faculty welfare committees about fees
for investment options in the DC-403b-457b programs were not reflected in the Committee’s
discussion. Does the Committee have knowledge of such complaints?) Some changes in official language to accommodate the “streamlining”
were approved.
There was then discussion of the “Sustainable” investing
initiative with much reference to “stakeholder engagement” and the ESG
buzzword. (Buzz-acronym?) ESG = Environment, Social, Governance. UC CIO Jagdeep
Singh Bachler has hired a former Berkeley student to do something in the office
involved in this program – not clear exactly what – and he made a presentation.
(Old time lefties will remember with nostalgia when "CIO" meant something
different from what it does now, but time marches on.)
Discussion went on to the planned UC Ventures fund which
is intended to be a kind of venture capital fund that will focus on
UC-developed technology. It appears that to prevent internal conflicts of
interest, the new fund will insist on having outside investors come into any
investments and will not be the “first dollar” investor. It was noted in the
discussion that the folks who run private venture capital funds make big bucks
and that even if UC Ventures is created as a quasi-independent entity, there
could be political issues when such salaries are paid by it, even if the recipients
are not technically UC employees. It wasn’t clear from the discussion how that
problem would be handled. But there were assurances that things would be worked out.
The Committee then went into closed session.
A link to the audio of the open part of the meeting is below:
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