Standard Chartered Private Bank has launched «ESG Select», a review process that identifies and curate wealth solutions, plus address greenwashing concerns.
The bank, seeing increased interest from many of our high-net-worth clients to include a sustainable element in their investment portfolio, will apply this new review process on all wealth solutions that seek to be positioned as a sustainable or environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) product on the Standard Chartered platform.
«Our open architecture approach, which is product agnostic, coupled with our Impact Philosophy allow our bankers to recommend ESG products that address clients’ impact needs. Launching ESG Select will help us address greenwashing concerns and we are confident that our clients will benefit from a more rigorous and systematic investment decision journey,» said Eugenia Koh, Head, Sustainable Investing and Strategic Engagement at Standard Chartered Private Bank in a media statement on Tuesday.
Nascent Space
Sustainable investing is becoming a mainstream consideration for many investors and ESG products are increasingly accessible in this nascent space. It is timely and critical that ESG products are properly evaluated to manage the potential negative impact of ESG risks and, at the same time, spot opportunities to drive positive impact.
The methodology behind ESG Select is tailored to each asset class, with funds and discretionary portfolio solutions following a similar assessment process, while bonds and structured products are separately assessed on different sets of criteria. The underlying premise is to benchmark against established frameworks that are aligned to Standard Chartered’s positions and to ensure that ongoing monitoring and review are in place.
Standard Chartered began incorporating ESG scores into our Wealth Management investment advisory trade notes for equities and fixed income since third quarter of 2019. ESG Select also applies to ESG funds, which Standard Chartered Bank offers via its Wealth Management suite of products to its retail banking clients.
