scholarly journals ESG-Washing in the Mutual Funds Industry? From Information Asymmetry to Regulation

Risks ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 199
Author(s):  
Bertrand Candelon ◽  
Jean-Baptiste Hasse ◽  
Quentin Lajaunie
Keyword(s):  
Information Asymmetry ◽  
Mutual Funds ◽  
Investment Decisions ◽  
Financial Information ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Responsible Investment ◽  
International Panel ◽  
Equity Mutual Funds ◽  
Financial Ratings ◽  
Asset Managers

In this paper, we study the asymmetric information between asset managers and investors in the socially responsible investment (SRI) market. Specifically, we investigate the lack of transparency of the extra-financial information communicated by asset managers. Using a unique international panel dataset of approximately 1500 equity mutual funds, we provide empirical evidence that some asset managers portray themselves as socially responsible yet do not make tangible investment decisions. Furthermore, our results indicate that the financial performance of mutual funds is not related to asset managers’ signals but should be evaluated relatively using extra-financial ratings. In summary, our findings advocate for a unified regulation framework that constrains asset managers’ communication.

scholarly journals Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Momentum Strategy for Responsible Investment in the Russian Stock Market

2021 ◽  
Vol 93 ◽  
pp. 02020
Author(s):  
Danila Ovechkin ◽  
Liudmila Reshetnikova ◽  
Natalia Boldyreva
Keyword(s):  
Time Horizon ◽  
Investment Decisions ◽  
Sharpe Ratio ◽  
Momentum Strategy ◽  
Responsible Investment ◽  
Market Index ◽  
Monthly Return ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Russian Stock Market ◽  
Asset Managers

In modern conditions, the integration of ESG-criteria into investment decisions of asset managers is considered as a key factor in sustainable economic development. We examine the effectiveness of the Momentum-ESG strategy based on the Responsibility and Openness Index in comparison with the Momentum strategy, which is based on the Moscow Exchange Broad Market Index, since December 2011 to December 2020. We propose an algorithm for integrating ESG criteria into momentum strategy. We select "winners" and "losers" stocks based on their monthly return. The Momentum-ESG strategy has a high Sharpe ratio for a time horizon of 12 months, the Momentum strategy - for a time horizon of 6 months. The testing of the Momentum-ESG strategy shows its greater efficiency in terms of the Sharpe ratio compared to the Momentum strategy, which does not take into account the ESG-factors, in the investing period.

Under pressure: exploring pressures for corporate social responsibility in mutual funds

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Caddie Putnam Rankin
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Mutual Funds ◽  
Mutual Fund ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Responsible Investment ◽  
Industry Standards ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Depth Interviews

PurposeThis empirical study seeks to understand how mutual fund firms interpret conflicting pressures to conform or differentiate in the context of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Research suggests that organizations engage in practices that conform to industry standards in order to be seen as legitimate members of their industry. Other studies suggest that organizations differentiate themselves in order to compete and outperform their rivals. Pressures for organizational conformity and differentiation are explored in two types of organizations in the mutual fund industry: socially responsible investment (SRI) and non-SRI firms.Design/methodology/approachThe research is based on qualitative in-depth interviews with twenty-six mutual funds.FindingsThe analysis revealed that pressures for conformity and differentiation were salient among mutual fund executives but emphasized differently for the two types of mutual funds.Originality/valueThe study concluded by suggesting SRI firms use both strategies of conformity and differentiation to amplify the message that they adhere to the values of CSR.

scholarly journals Socially responsible investing through the equity funds in the global ownership network

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. e0256160
Author(s):  
Takayuki Mizuno ◽  
Shohei Doi ◽  
Takahiro Tsuchiya ◽  
Shuhei Kurizaki
Keyword(s):  
Mutual Funds ◽  
Corporate Control ◽  
Voting Rights ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Responsible Investing ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Equity Funds ◽  
Investment Management Companies ◽  
Asset Managers ◽  
Ultimate Owners

We analyze the connectivity of equity investments to the firms in the global ownership network that are reported as non-compliant with Environment, Social, and Government (ESG) benchmarks. We find that a large number of shareholders have ownership linkages to non-ESG firms, most commonly with three or four degrees of separation. Analyzing the betweenness centrality for shareholders connecting the ultimate owners and non-ESG firms, we find that the investment management companies play important roles in channeling the investment money into non-ESG firms, where largest American asset managers commonly have one to two degrees of separation on their ownership linkages to those problematic firms. Since asset managers collect capital from investors by running the equity funds, we analyze the ownership stakes and the associated voting rights attributable to the equity funds investors. We estimate the distribution of the power of corporate control over non-ESG firms among specific asset managers (such as BlackRock and Fidelity) and among different types of the equity funds (such as mutual funds and exchanged-traded funds), and explores how investing in the equity funds rather than ownership investing may have shifted the distribution of the power to control those non-ESG firms.

Socially responsible investing: a review of the critical issues

2015 ◽  
Vol 41 (11) ◽  
pp. 1176-1201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan Junkus ◽  
Thomas D. Berry
Keyword(s):  
Mutual Funds ◽  
Firm Value ◽  
Socially Responsible Investing ◽  
Model Specification ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Responsible Investment ◽  
Definitive Answer ◽  
Responsible Investing

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the most recent work in major finance journals on socially responsible investment (SRI). While SRI involves individual investors, firms, and investment managers, the authors concentrate primarily on the investment view. Design/methodology/approach – The authors briefly review the development of socially responsible investing (SRI) and the theoretical issues related to SRI and investment choice. This is followed by a review of the empirical results concerning firm value. The question of whether SR mutual funds and SR indexes differ in performance or other characteristics from their conventional counterparts is discussed next, and lastly the authors present suggestions for future research directions. Findings – Despite the large and extensive amount of empirical research published on SRI in recent years, the authors find no definitive answer to the question of SR actions for either the firm or the investor. For firms, evidence linking corporate social responsibility (CSR) rankings with higher value is mixed, and depends on the type of CSR behavior studied as well as the measures of firm performance used. The performance of SR mutual funds and indexes generally are not significantly different from conventional funds or indexes, but again these results are also highly dependent on model specification, time period, benchmark, and other characteristics of the study. Practical implications – The value of SR investing has not been definitely proved. This means, however, that there is room for further on this important topic. Originality/value – This paper synthesizes and presents the most recent research on SRI from a wide variety of refereed sources.

Sustainability-themed mutual funds: an empirical examination of risk and performance

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 247-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federica Ielasi ◽  
Monica Rossolini ◽  
Sara Limberti
Keyword(s):  
Mutual Funds ◽  
Mutual Fund ◽  
Investment Strategies ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Responsible Investment ◽  
Fund Managers ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Sustainable And Responsible Investment ◽  
Ethical Funds

PurposeThis paper aims to analyze the portfolio characteristics and the performance measures of sustainability-themed mutual funds, compared to ethical mutual funds that implement different sustainable and responsible investment strategies.Design/methodology/approachThe study refers to a European sample of 106 ethical funds and 51 sustainability-themed funds. The monthly performance of each fund is downloaded from Bloomberg for the period from January 1996 to December 2015. By applying a Fama and French (1993) three-factor model, the authors overcome the limits of a capital asset pricing model (CAPM) based-single index model, to compare the performance of the two categories of funds.FindingsSustainability-themed funds do not differ significantly from ethical funds in terms of portfolio attributes, except for market capitalization, age and net asset value. Regarding performance measures, the results shows that sustainability-themed funds have a lower underperformance than ethical funds (as measured by Jensen’s alpha), whereas the samples do not differ in terms of market risk (as measured by Beta coefficient). The idiosyncratic risk of sustainability-themed funds is positively influenced by the specific portfolio strategies. The sustainability-themed funds show a higher concentration in the industrial sector and a lower exposure to financial sector than ethical funds; in terms of geographical strategy, they are more global and international oriented; they mainly focus on small caps and value stocks.Research limitations/implicationsThe different sustainable and responsible investment strategies can be applied simultaneously and in a growing number of possible combinations. Mutual fund managers can consider thematic approach as an efficient opportunity for reconciling financial performance and economic sustainability. It is demonstrated that sustainability-themed funds adopt a portfolio strategy significantly different from ethical funds and from the environmental, social and governance benchmarks. Mutual fund managers implement a thematic specialization without any negative impact on the funds returns compared to ethical funds; actually, with a proper diversified portfolio, they are able to reduce idiosyncratic risk.Originality/valueThe analysis is extremely innovative, especially for the thematic sample. During the past 15 years, literature about sustainable and responsible investment has been focused especially on the differences in terms of risk and performance between socially responsible and conventional funds. This paper, starting from the methodology applied in these studies, wants to compare two different types of socially responsible strategies, with a specific focus on sustainability-themed mutual funds, given their exponential growth in the past few years.

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