More

    Thematic Strategies

    Share post:

    While our day-to-day lives are disrupted by travel bans and event cancellations, we find ourselves with new pockets of time. An excellent opportunity to catch up and we provide the perfect opportunity to do so: our written account of a round table discussion on Thematic strategies. As if you were there… in your own time, at your own pace!

    In partnership with UBP, Federated Hermes and Jupiter Asset Management, NordSIP convened a round table on the topic of thematic investments to discover what these strategies aim to deliver while getting a better understanding of how they fit the needs of institutional investors or fund selectors.

    - Partner Message -

    The topic took us along a journey from listed impact to the sustainable development goals, together with our guests, AP7‘s Johan Florén, Söderberg & Partners’ Lingyi Lu and Danske Bank‘s Susanne Bolin Gärtner.

    In the world of impact, investors have committed €116 billion to impact investments in developed countries, according to Phenix Capital – an investment consultant specialising in this market segment.

    In support of the commitment to sustainability expressed by BlackRock‘S CEO Larry Fink at the start of 2020, the asset manager announced this week the launch of three new sustainable ETFs, focusing on social responsibility, ESG and infrastructure. A sign of strong demand in the same space, UBS Asset Management’s portfolio of ESG ETF offerings has recently surpassed US$10 billion. Following in the steps of its peers, JP Morgan announced it would integrate ESG into all of its asset management portfolio, during its investor day at the end of February. The investment manager also announced it would launch new ESG-focused strategies.

    On the asset owner side, in the other hemisphere, the default providers of its ‘opt-in’ pension funds in New Zealand, KiwiSavers, will start excluding companies involved in the production of fossil fuels from their investment portfolios.

    Closer to home, Orkuveita Reykjavikur (OR; Reykjavik Energy) issued ISK2.34 billion (US$18.33 million) via two series of green bonds which attracted a total of ISK3 billion worth of bids.

    Last but not least, we caught up with Nina Jahanbin, who recently moved to Geneva-headquartered UBP as Head of Nordics. “I don’t think Nordic investors can be fooled by greenwashing! The screening processes are becoming more and more codified and standardised: in 2020, an exclusion list is not enough to say that you are proactive,” she told us.

    Image by David Mark from Pixabay

    Aline Reichenberg Gustafsson, CFA
    Aline Reichenberg Gustafsson, CFA
    Aline Reichenberg Gustafsson, CFA is Editor-in-Chief for NordSIP and Managing Director for Big Green Tree Media. She has 18 years of experience in the asset management industry in Stockholm, London and Geneva, including as a long/short equity hedge fund portfolio manager, and buy-side analyst, but also as CFO and COO in several asset management firms. Aline holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a License in Economic Sciences from the University of Geneva.

    Nordsip Insights

    From the Author

    Related articles