Displaying items by tag: esg

As geopolitical factors lead to a reevaluation of a number of beliefs in the spectrum, currently -- like the first half of the year – the terrain continues to be rife with environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters, according to corpgov.law.harvared.edu.

While some forecasts laid out by the group in its February post “ESG: 2021 Trends and Expectations for 2022,” were on the dime, other were stymied by unexpected circumstances.  They included, for instance, the reverberations from the Ukraine invasion, a spike in regulatory scrutiny and some blowback from U.S. Supreme Court rulings. 

During the first six months of the year, the Russian intrusion of Ukraine took a hefty toll on ESG trends and performance, according to the site. The fire was lit under oil and gas prices, while the performance of ESY-focused funds lagged.

Then there’s the bigger picture, in which 47% of advisors concur that ESG investments in DC plans would play a role on environmental, social, and corporate governance on a macroeconomic level, according to loma.org. Occasional advisors? Well, they’re more likely to expect ESGs in DC plans to impact conditions more widely. 

With apparent eroding client interest, ESGs might be losing some of their bang, according to thinkadvisor.com. In the past several months, 31% of advisors reported taking questions about ESG or socially responsible investing from clients. That’s down from 39% who indicated as much last year and in 2020.

Thirty four percent of advisors were found to tap or recommend these strategies to clients this year,  according to the survey. While that’s an uptick of 2 percentage points from 2021, it receded from a high of 38% in 2020.

Investmentnews.com reported in June that, in recent years, while a burgeoning percentage of financial advisors folded ESG investments options into their business, more now indicated they intend shore back on suggesting such investments, according to a survey.

While financial advisor use or recommendation of environmental, social and governance or ESG investing strategies have moved consistently along over the past four years, according to prnewswire.com. However, during the next  12 months, it could slip in use, according to the 2022 Trends in Investing Survey, conducted by the Journal of Financial Planning and the Financial Planning Association, as provided to prnewswire.com by the Financial Planning Association.

If a new bill in the Senate gets passed at some point, ESG investing in retirement plans may become a thing of the past. On July 26th, Senator Mike Braun of Indiana introduced The Maximize Americans’ Retirement Security Act (S. 4613), legislation that would clarify that the fiduciary duty of plan administrators is to select and maintain investments based solely on “pecuniary” financial factors. Based on the legislation, pecuniary factors are defined as any factors that a fiduciary prudently determines are expected to have a material effect on the risk or return of an investment. The bill, which was co-sponsored by seven other GOP senators, would curb the Department of Labor’s efforts to make it easier for plan fiduciaries to consider ESG factors when selecting plan investments. ESG investing has become a hot political topic as of late, and its recent underperformance during the bear market has only further added to the scrutiny.

Finsum: With ESG becoming a hot political issue, GOP Senators introduced a bill that would curb the DOL’s efforts to make it easier for plan fiduciaries to consider ESG factors in plan investments. 

With apparent eroding client interest, ESGs might be losing some of their bang, according to thinkadvisor.com. In the past several months, 31% of advisors reported taking questions about ESG or socially responsible investing from clients. That’s down from 39% who indicated as much last year and in 2020.

Thirty four percent of advisors were found to tap or recommend these strategies to clients this year,  according to the survey. While that’s an uptick of 2 percentage points from 2021, it receded from a high of 38% in 2020.

Investmentnews.com reported in June that, in recent years, while a burgeoning percentage of financial advisors folded ESG investments options into their business, more now indicated they intend shore back on suggesting such investments, according to a survey.

While financial advisor use or recommendation of environmental, social and governance or ESG investing strategies have moved consistently along over the past four years, according to prnewswire.com. However, during the next  12 months, it could slip in use, according to the 2022 Trends in Investing Survey, conducted by the Journal of Financial Planning and the Financial Planning Association, as provided to prnewswire.com by the Financial Planning Association.

It would be an understatement to say BlackRock has been a leader in ESG the last couple of years but the tides could be turning. There have been massive outflows from ESG in the month of May which has been unusual given the asset classes' widespread popularity where they topped $3.5 billion. BlackRock has been the main source of outflows from IShares ESG Aware MSCI EM and other popular funds. BlackRock has cut two of iShares most popular funds from seven of their ten models. This is potentially a huge blow, as it could signal the firms changing stance in ESG or it could just be smoke and mirror as asset allocations normally change. ESGs inclusion in many model portfolios has been key to its growing popularity.

Finsum: Are ESG investors really so skittish with the tightening in the economy; the long-term prospects for ESG still seem overwhelming.