Platforms are seeing strong growth of products themed around environmental, social and governance (ESG) with assets in those funds outpacing those in non-ESG options.
In data provided to Money Management, BT said net flows into investments that prioritised ESG across all BT platforms increased by 162% from June 2020 to June 2021. For managed accounts, net flows to ESG managed portfolios on BT’s platforms increased by 520% in the same period.
In its quarterly results for the three months to 31 March, 2022, the firm added it planned to launch seven more ESG managed portfolio options on its BT Panoroma platform by the end of June which would bring the total to 12.
Praemium told Money Management the year to 11 April had seen the largest change on its ESG managed funds which had risen 232% from $13.9 million to $46 million.
ESG exchange traded products (ETPs) had risen 166% on the platform from $23 million to $63.4 million while ESG managed portfolios had risen from $39 million to $98.6 million, a rise of 151%.
However, ESG managed portfolios had seen the largest product growth, rising from 12 products to 23 over the period which represented growth of 98%. ESG ETPs had risen from 19 to 32 while ESG managed portfolios had grown from 34 to 45.
Over at AMP, its North platform had seen assets under management for its ESG investment options increase by 100% to $600 million during 2021. Options had increased to 60 investments with 13 added in 2021 and the firm said ESG investments had grown 6.5x faster than non-ESG options.
