11/09/20

SUSTAINABLE FINANCE: Adviser survey results reveal global upturn in ESG investing.

As published on internationalinvestment.net, Wednesday 9 September, 2020.

Environmentally concerned savers are asking their financial advisers to direct more of their money into ESG investments - with climate change the primary concern - according to the results of a global survey published today.

The RL360 and International Investment survey which was undertaken by international financial advisers and brokers across a range of countries, across the last 30 days, with the majority noticing an upturn in interest across the last 12 months.

The survey points to a change of savers' attitudes towards ESG investing with 63% of advisers pointing that climate change and environmental concerns as the main driver behind the upturn.

The impact ongoing global pandemic was cited as the reason for clients choosing ESG investments for 13.3%, with 10.7% pointing to strong investment returns as the main reason.

The majority of advisers (56%) said that interest was on the up with 31% saying that they had noticed "a lot more" interest. 26% said "a little more", with 30% saying things were "about the same" as last year. Just 13% said it was "less than usual".

Looking at the age profile of investors that are most interested in ESG, 43.2% pointed to clients in their 30s, with 26% of clients in the 40s as the second highest group. Clients that are 50 upwards accounted for 19% with clients in their 20s the lowest group at 12%.

Across the last 12 months the majority said that they had increased the number of ESG fund options in their investment recommendations with 37% saying that had adding a few more options and 17% stating that have adding a lot more options. Only 5% had reduced options with 41% keeping to the same numbers.

Chris Corkish, investment marketing manager at RL360 said: "The survey results strongly support our belief that ESG investing is growing at pace, with the recent global events prompting more questions and interest in investing in a responsible or sustainable manner.

"It is therefore important that companies such as ourselves continue to support this growth and provide access to credible options in this space."

In a typical new portfolio, the vast majority (72%) of advisers said that ESG usually counts for up to 25% of a portfolio. Interestingly 12% said that in new cases ESG is counting for between 51%-75% of portfolios.

9% said that between 26%-50% is typical in new investments and 7% stated that between 76%-100% is invested into ESG.