NN Investment Partners has revealed its sustainable investment approach has now been integrated into how it manages two-thirds of its total assets under management.
The asset manager, which handles €268bn in assets, said ESG criteria have been integrated for the majority (66 per cent) of its assets, with €176bn now in scope, including its sustainable and impact investments.
The firm has yet to fully embed ESG into its asset-backed securities (ABS), derivative portfolios and some multi-asset strategies, due to the nature of the asset class or portfolio construction, it said.
However, NNIP added it aims to increase the number of assets in which it integrates ESG factors over time.
The firm has strengthened its responsible investing framework to include a stringent definition of ESG where each investment analysis is required to integrate all three factors, and be demonstrable and documented in a consistent way to improve risk-adjusted returns.
Its comprehensive framework includes identifying material ESG issues per company, per sector and per country, followed by an evaluation of a company’s performance on each relevant ESG aspect to expose potential controversies and impacts. This assessment is then incorporated into the investment analysis, the firm explained.
“We are convinced of the benefits of integrating ESG criteria into the investment process for our equity, fixed income, and multi-asset strategies,” Valentijn van Nieuwenhuijzen, chief investment officer at NN Investment Partners, said.
“We have assessed all our assets according to our strengthened definition of ESG integration, and are proud to reveal that we consistently integrate ESG criteria into the majority of our assets. We will continue to extend this process for other strategies where relevant,” van Nieuwenhuijzen added.
