ESG needs better disclosure standards

Geoff-Waring/ESG/

1 June 2021
| By Chris Dastoor |
image
image
expand image

Fund managers should be subject to more rigorous standards to ensure their disclosures about environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing are accurate, according to Stoic Venture Capital.

Dr Geoff Waring, Stoic Venture Capital partner, said Australia should take the lead of the United States, European Union and United Kingdom by ramping up its scrutiny of ESG disclosure and compliance.

“Many investors are concerned about the hazy reporting of fund managers when it comes to their ESG investments,” Waring said.

“There is a lack of consistency and regulation in how funds report ESG investments and how ESG principles are integrated into their investment decisions and strategy and the impact this has on their returns.”

This was important given the growth of responsible investing which now accounted for 37% of $3.135 billion in assets under management, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

“Stronger, more consistent guidelines and more information sharing would reduce the risk of misleading marketing claims about ESG investing,” Waring said.

“It would also push investor ESG preferences more effectively through fund managers down to the individual investee companies where many key decisions are being made.”

Read more about:

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest news and developments in wealth management industry

MARKET INSIGHTS

So we are now underwriting criminal scams?...

1 month 3 weeks ago

Glad to see the back of you Steve. You made financial more expensive, not more affordable as you claim, and presided ...

2 months ago

Completely agree Peter. The definition of 'significant change is circumstances relevant to the scope of the advice' is s...

4 months ago

Entireti has unveiled the new name for the AMP financial advice businesses that it acquired last year....

3 weeks 6 days ago

A Sydney financial adviser has been permanently banned from providing any financial services, with the regulator deriding his “lack of integrity, trustworthiness and prof...

2 weeks 5 days ago

Minister for Financial Services, Stephen Jones, has provided further information about the second tranche of the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes (DBFO) reforms....

1 week 4 days ago

TOP PERFORMING FUNDS