- RMB, a division of FirstRand Bank Limited has launched its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)-measuring platforms.
- ESGo! and ESGNow drive sustainable finance by offering client interfaces that enable more informed investment decisions when it comes to ESG considerations.
- The initiative forms part of RMB’s Sustainable Investment Analytics suite that independently assesses client portfolio risk profiles relating to sustainability issues.
Access to reliable ESG data and the ability to use such data in making investment decisions are vital to advancing sustainable investing. There are several different frameworks and data providers in the ESG space, but the varied ecosystem makes meaningful comparisons difficult. RMB’s new ESG tools address this challenge by giving asset managers and institutional investors (e.g. pension funds) affordable access to the latest ESG data presented in visually appealing and easy-to-use formats.
Shareholders are increasingly integrating ESG strategies into their investing criteria, with many jurisdictions requiring that companies provide potential investors with ESG-related information.
“The world is moving towards integrating sustainable finance across the financial ecosystem,” says Nigel Beck, Head of Sustainable Finance and ESG Advisory at RMB. “We embrace this change and want to empower our clients to do the same. ESGo!and ESGNow will be an essential enabler to our clients’ businesses, and a vital tool to understanding investment aligned to ESG criteria.”
“We want to equip clients with information to support their investment decision-making,” explains Hendrik Fourie, Head of Invest at RMB. “ESGo! offers an on-the-go, high-level view of a portfolio’s ESG risk, highlighting areas that may warrant investor attention.”
With such a perspective, clients and portfolio managers are positioned to assess a portfolio’s underlying ESG components or instruments. “As the name intimates,” adds Fourie, “clients are empowered to ‘go’ – to move towards making the most informed investment decisions they can. It’s an action-oriented approach to what we believe is intelligent investing.”
For clients wanting deeper insights, ESGNow offers real-time information when it comes to sustainability-related investment and enables a current sustainable-investment assessment, tracking changes over time or from a specific date.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
