Sustainable investing

We at Vontobel Asset Management want to help you make informed and active choices when it comes to ESG investing. But before you make a decision, you need to know what exactly your needs and beliefs are, and what investment approaches are available.

We start the discussion with a question: What do you believe in?

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards can serve multiple purposes. Do you look for ESG to improve financial performance? Does ESG stand for investments in line with your values and convictions? Or both of the above?

 

Whatever your goals are, the ESG approach you choose will affect your portfolio. We have defined six categories which we use to describe ESG investments: impact investing, thematic, best-in-class, integration, engagement, and exclusion, categorizing them according to the motivation and the resulting effect.

The six approaches can be explained as follows:

Impact Investing

Investing in activities with a positive impact on the environment or society. The main focus here is “doing good”, rather than investment performance.

Thematic

Investment focused on opportunities related to a single theme or megatrend. Results in a concentrated portfolio that should perform if the trend develops as expected.

Best in class

Only invests in companies with excellent ESG performance relative to others in their sector, often based on external database information. The focus is not on companies with moderate ESG scores with other attractive characteristics.

Integration

Includes ESG as a fully integrated element of the investment process, with ESG scorings combined with other factors to support investment decisions. The aim is a portfolio blending ESG and other characteristics. It requires a purpose-built investment process and portfolio management staff able to conduct ESG alongside other types of investment analysis.

Engagement

Investors aim to influence company management to improve business practices. A wide range of engagement levels exist, ranging from proxy voting through to public engagement as practiced by prominent activist funds.

Exclusion

Filtering out undesirable companies or sectors, either based on convictions or on international norms e.g. regarding weapons. Typically applied at the start of the investment process. While the companies in the portfolio meet ESG minimum standards, other factors are more important for the shares.

There is no “one size fits all”

We believe there is no “one size fits all” ESG approach. There are simply too many investment styles, investor objectives, geographies, and asset classes. Being an active asset manager, we develop specialized ESG strategies covering a wide range of client needs in a targeted manner. We are convinced this leads to better results than standardized products, such as passive ESG exchange traded funds (ETFs).

Looking for the “right” ESG approach already puts you on the path towards active investing. If you are ready to invest independently of a benchmark, we can help you start your journey. Here is an overview of our ESG product range and our processes.

ESG at Vontobel Asset Management is managed on two levels:

• The Vontobel Sustainability Committee works at Group level, chaired by the CEO and sets specific sustainability targets
• Within Vontobel AM, the ESG Investment Governance Committee is responsible for coordinating ESG investment approaches across investment teams

We classify our offering into two product categories: "Integrated ESG" and "Sustainable". More information about these two product categories can be found in our Sustainability Report and here.

ESG Integration and Stewardship Report

Find more information about our ESG processes, resources, and governance in our ESG Integration and Stewardship Report 2020.

Our commitment to active ownership

We exercise voting rights at the annual meetings of companies whose shares we hold in our sustainable and thematic portfolios, and engage in active dialogue with them. To be able to do this efficiently, we work with leading service providers in the field of voting rights and corporate dialogue. Read our engagement policy. Read our voting policy.

Examples of how we exercise our voting rights and how we engage with companies can be found here. Vontobel Asset Management - Voting & Engagement Report

Key facts

Vontobel's heritage and strategic focus on sustainability help make us one of the leading asset managers for sustainable investing in Europe and Switzerland.

Vontobel has a long tradition of corporate responsibility and sustainability. We are a founding member of Swiss Sustainable Finance, and have received numerous awards for our sustainable investment funds.

The sustainability rating agency ISS-oekom awarded Vontobel the rare "prime" status, and we received an above-average score “A+” for the implementation of the U.N. Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).