Rathbones is bringing together its multi-asset investment team and members of its Greenbank responsible investment team in a multi-asset ESG launch it regards as "the next logical step".
The fund house is launching four multi-asset funds, which are risk weighted and will be managed by Will McIntosh Whyte from the multi-asset team at Rathbones and David Coombs, the firm’s head of multi-asset.
The ESG input will be provided by Kate Elliot, who works within Rathbones' Greenbank ESG business.
McIntosh Whyte said: “We have been working on this for a long time, we wanted to come to the market with something right.
"There has been a rise in interest in sustainability among clients, and they are seeing demand from clients, which is what we are responding to.
"Advisers are saying to us that they are finding the conversations they are having around sustainability are very positive.
"We have a successful multi-asset franchise and have Greenbank under the same roof. Greenbank’s team already work with our ethical bond managers and our sustainable equity managers, so multi-asset was the next logical step.”
He said the role of Greenbank was to “ensure that companies are not just talking the talk when it comes to ESG, but also that they are actually behaving in the right way.”
The equity and fixed income teams from Rathbones will provide research for the new fund range.
McIntosh Whyte said at present the funds are focusing on bonds with a short date until maturity, which is typically a position investors take as a protection against higher inflation.
The four funds in the range are the Rathbone Greenbank Dynamic Growth Portfolio, which targets an annual return of 4 per cent higher than the prevailing inflation rate, the Rathbone Greenbank Strategic Growth Portfolio, which targets a return of 3 per cent above inflation, the Rathbone Greenbank Defensive Growth Portfolio, which targets a return of 2 per cent above inflation, and the Rathbone Greenbank Total Return Portfolio, which targets a return of 2 per cent above the Bank of England base rate.
Each portfolio has a different level of equity risk.
david.thorpe@ft.com
