Fund house BNY Mellon has launched a training seminar on environmental, social and governance investing for advisers across the UK.
BNY said the seminar, announced today (June 10), was designed to address the “growing focus among intermediaries to consider ESG factors” when working with their clients on financial planning and investment decisions.
The 90-minute seminar will include a detailed overview of ESG within the context of investment, the different role it plays for active and passive portfolio management and how approaches to ESG vary across equities and fixed income.
Problems surrounding greenwashing, the evolving regulatory landscape and the Investment Association’s responsible investment framework will also be covered.
The seminar, taking place on June 24, will be led by Andrew Parry, head of sustainable investment at Newton Investment Management, a subsidiary of BNY Mellon, and will provide CPD accreditation. Advisers can sign up on the BNY Mellon website.
BNY Mellon Investment Management’s head of UK intermediary distribution, Michael Beveridge, said: “Demand for ESG-labelled funds has grown exponentially over the past five years and this has only accelerated since the Covid-19 market sell-off.
“Intermediaries across the UK recognise that ESG will play an increasingly important role in conversations with their clients, and the impact that it has on their businesses from a regulatory standpoint.”
ESG investing takes into account ethical factors alongside financial markers in the decision-making process and has become more commonplace in the global investment space in recent years.
But greenwashing — a phenomenon of growing concern in the financial sector, which sees firms market products and investments to appear more sustainable and ethical than they really are — has been a thorn in the side of the responsible investment movement.
Amendments to Mifid II (expected to come into force in Q1 2021) will mean advisers will need to be more proactive with customers in relation to ESG considerations by asking them about their preferences.
Mr Beveridge said the asset manager’s “fit-for-purpose” ESG seminar would assist advisers in planning conversations with clients and integrating ESG into investment assessment processes.
He added: “Regulatory proposals as part of the EU Action Plan on Sustainable Finance may well have an impact on disclosure and fact-finding, and we believe this seminar will provide value to intermediaries as they prepare for this potential, yet meaningful, regulatory change.”
imogen.tew@ft.com
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