JP Morgan Asset Management has added to its sustainable fund offering with the launch of the JPMorgan Emerging Markets Sustainable Equity fund.
The fund – which JPMAM claims is one of the industry’s first sustainable EM equity funds – will be managed by Amit Mehta and John Citron, who are both part of the global emerging markets fundamental team led by Austin Forey.
It follows the launch of the JPMorgan Global Macro Sustainable fund in September.
The fund will have an ongoing charge of 1.05 per cent.
Its selection process will involve screening EM equities to cut out unsustainable industries and businesses using two criteria, norms and principles-based exclusions, as well as proprietary exclusions based on JPMAM's own research.
From there, the managers will invest in “sustainable leaders who are best-in-class” in their industry.
The result will be a portfolio intended to provide positive outcomes in terms of its overall ESG impact, JPMAM said.
Massimo Greco, head of EMEA funds at JPMAM, said: “Having long integrated consideration of ESG issues into our emerging market equities investment process, our fund managers can combine our proprietary research with the incorporation of exclusions and a best-in-class approach that investors are seeking.”
He added: “Sustainable investing is critical in emerging markets – we believe it is entirely compatible with and, indeed, essential for a long-term investment approach that aims to deliver better results and allows the power of compounding to translate into investment outcomes.”
Darius McDermott, managing director of Chelsea Financial Services, said the fund was not the first sustainable emerging markets product in the market.
He said: “Stewart Investors, for example, has been investing sustainably in emerging markets and Asia for more than a decade, and very successfully at that.
"They have sustainability at the core of their processes and have been investing this way long before it became fashionable.”
