2015: Continued Rapid Growth For Green, Social & Ethical Retail Funds In Europe

Vigeo and Morningstar report that in 2015, the European SRI retail fund market has grown by 8% with assets under management reached now almost €136 bn (€127 bn in 2014) representing 1.7% of the overall retail funds market. The number of funds increased considerably (+26%) and reach a record figure of 1,204 funds (957 in 2014).

France and the Netherlands show a growth of +4% and +7% respectively, while other major countries experienced a decline: Belgium -10%, the United Kingdom -7% and Germany -5%.

These trends are extracted from the 15th edition of the study “Green Social and Ethical Funds in Europe”, the yearly report produced by Vigeo Italy in partnership with Morningstar for June 2014 to June 2015.

This year, they report that in Europe:

– The four largest markets (France, UK, Switzerland, Netherlands) confirm their leadership, accounting for 68% of European assets.

– All small markets gained new assets: Spain (+19%), Austria (+17%) and Italy (+2,5%).

– France was confirmed as the largest European SRI retail market (35% of the total) and is characterised by a high proportion of fixed income funds. The UK remained in second place (15%), outstripping other countries.

– The Netherlands retains the highest country market share for SRI retail funds even if it decreased to 16.3% this year compared to 17.8% in 2014.

– This confirms Belgium ranking second (9.3%) in terms of penetration of SRI funds in the retail funds market. The potential for the development of sustainable savings appears high in France where this type of fund represents only 6% of assets.

Equity funds (52% of the total) still outweigh fixed income funds (27%) and balanced funds (21%). However their share has not yet reached again the 2007 record of 67% . Amongst the five highest performing SRI funds this year, four are French.

Fouad Benseddik, Director of Methodology at Vigeo said: “SRI continues to represent a form of investment that is dynamic and a forward looking solution. Number of funds, assets under management and players engaged continue to growth which confirms the capacity of SRI to resist to the crisis.”