Adrian Orr, NZ Super Fund Chief Executive, was honoured at the Asian Investor Institutional Excellence Awards, held in Singapore on December 6.

Mr Orr was awarded a special award for Individual Contribution to Institutional Investment.

The award, made for only the second time, recognises an individually who has personally stamped their mark on their institution and helped to promote positive change in the investment industry in the Asia-Pacific region.

Asian Investor noted positive market feedback about Mr Orr’s commitment to the promotion of environmental, social and governance factors and climate change risk, along with his “ongoing promotion of responsible discussion and strategy among sovereign wealth funds, and the excellent job he continues to do at the NZ Super Fund.”

The NZ Super Fund also won the Innovation category at the Asian Investor awards.

The judges commented on the Fund’s “commitment to breaking new ground in its approach to cutting back its exposure to carbon in its passive equity portfolio, together with its ongoing efforts to improve its investment capabilities and enviable rates of return over many years.”

In 2015 the NZ Super Fund was named the world’s best performing sovereign wealth fund by JP Morgan. It has returned 10.5% per annum since inception in 2003 and 16.2% per annum over the last five years.

It announced a comprehensive climate change investment risk strategy in 2016 and significantly reduced its exposure to carbon emissions and reserves in 2017.

The Bretton Woods II programme also recently named the NZ Super Fund as one of the world’s most responsible sovereign wealth funds.

Mr Orr has been Chief Executive of the NZ Super Fund since 2007. He is also the current Chair of the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF) and the Pacific Pension Institute (PPI).

More information on the awards is available here.