BNP Paribas Invest €7.7bn In Socially Responsable Projects

BNP Paribas Wealth Management have highlighted the interest of their clients in Socially Responsible Investments, with two-figure annual growth in funds invested in this sector since 2010.

SRI is especially popular with the younger generation, with 72% of all ‘Millennials’ planning to switch assets into impact investing within the next five years, according to a survey conducted by The Toniic Institute *

BNP Paribas Wealth Management SRI offering:

• Some 200 SRI funds selected in open architecture
• Systematic dialogue with Fund Management companies and a demanding rating tool consisting of 35 extra-financial criteria for selecting socially responsible products
• Offering rolled out in Italy and the USA since the start of the year

“We encourage our clients to diversify their portfolios by incorporating innovative socially responsible solutions across the different asset classes,” explained Eléonore Bedel, Head of SRI at BNP Paribas Wealth Management, adding: “Moreover, we’re constantly thinking of new ways to help them make choices, for example by assessing the level of corporate social responsibility represented in their current portfolio, so as to enable them to take an increasingly active approach to financing a more sustainable economy.”

We encourage our clients to diversify their portfolios by incorporating innovative socially responsible solutions across the different asset classes

To meet investors’ growing appetite for this type of investment, BNP Paribas Wealth Management carries out an assiduous search for SRI products. BNP Paribas Wealth Management is moreover pursuing an initiative to encourage social engagement among the Fund Managers with whom it works so as to ensure that environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria, together with policies on exclusions and on voting, transparent information and social commitment, are integrated into the investment process.

In just one year, close to 50 Fund Management companies have come on board this initiative.

The ‘Millennial’ generation and Impact Investing*

A survey entitled ‘Millennials & Impact Investing’, conducted by The Toniic Institute on behalf of Bank of the West Wealth Management, reveals that Millennials see investment decisions as a way of expressing their social, political and environmental values.

• 79% of the Millennials polled describe themselves as ‘impact investors’
• 10% of the respondents have already moved 90-100% of their personal assets into impact investing
• 72% say they intend to move more assets into impact investments within the next 5 years
• 65% of those surveyed indicate that their families have an interest in impact investing
• Agriculture, Energy and Environment emerge from the survey as clear top interests for Millennials, with Employment, Food Security and Water not far behind.