Category: Mandates
UK arm of insurance giant partners with HSBC Global Asset Management to ‘embed ESG’ across workplace default funds UK arm of insurance giant partners with HSBC Global Asset Management to ‘embed ESG’ across workplace default funds UK arm of insurance giant partners with HSBC Global Asset Management to ‘embed ESG’ across workplace default funds
Aegon UK has announced plans to invest £1.7bn (€1.9bn) from its workplace default funds range in a new low-carbon developed-market equities fund created by HSBC Global Asset Management.
HSBC’s new Developed World Sustainable Equity Index Fund, which Aegon UK is the first to invest in, targets a 20% “uplift” in ESG scores based on FTSE Russell’s ratings and a 50% carbon emissions and fossil fuel reserves intensity reduction, relative to the parent index, which was not disclosed.
The fund, which tracks the performance of the FTSE Developed ESG Low Carbon Select Index, excludes sin stocks such as weapons, tobacco and gambling, as well as companies that generate significant levels of revenue from activities such as thermal coal.
It also incorporates a “custom exclusion list” based on company performance against the UN Global Compact’s 10 principles, which includes human rights commitments.
Stuart White, UK and International CEO at HSBC Global…