Relationship will support global issuers in identifying risks, opportunities and key ESG performance drivers for the investment community.
BNY Mellon, a global leader in investment management and investment services, announced today that its Depositary Receipts (DR) Division has agreed with MSCI ESG Research to provide its DR corporate clients with the means to measure how the market perceives them from an Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investment perspective.
Investors are incorporating ESG considerations into their investment process with increasing regularity, with ESG-considered assets under management approaching $23 trillion, or approximately 26% of all professionally managed assets globally¹. As these assets continue to grow, it is important for issuers to manage company and sector-specific risks and incorporate ESG concerns into their overall corporate strategy.
“Our research illustrates companies are becoming more socially responsible and are increasing their outreach to ESG investors as potential new sources of investment,” said Christopher Kearns, CEO of BNY Mellon's Depositary Receipts business. “We are excited to work with MSCI ESG Research to provide clients with actionable information from the world’s leading provider of environmental, social and governance research.”
Through MSCI ESG research, DR clients will gain insight into how their ESG performance measures against their peers, utilizing MSCI ESG Ratings, ESG Controversies, Industry Trend, Thematic and Country Governance reports. Additionally, MSCI’s global ESG dataset will be available to BNY Mellon’s DR ESG Advisory team, facilitating bespoke client research in the form of peer benchmarking and issuer-specific shareholder ESG analysis, utilizing fund metric data from more than 26,000 mutual funds and ETFs.
“In 2017, MSCI ESG Research saw the response and inquiry rate from companies that are constituents of the MSCI ACWI Index grow to 43% from 30% the year before and from just 15% in 2014. This trend suggests that companies are becoming more engaged on ESG issues as institutional investors take these issues more systematically into their analysis when they make investment decisions. We are excited to support BNY Mellon as it looks to bring MSCI ESG Ratings and research to its issuer clients,” said Linda-Eling Lee, Managing Director and Global Head of ESG Research at MSCI.
In 2018, BNY Mellon and MSCI will collaborate on ESG-themed events throughout the year for the benefit of BNY Mellon’s issuers with sponsored DR programs. The first scheduled event will be on February 28, featuring Linda-Eling Lee presenting a “2018 ESG Trends to Watch” webinar.
To learn more about BNY Mellon Depositary Receipts, please visit our website or submit a request by clicking here and a member of BNY Mellon’s Depositary Receipts team will contact you.
Media Contact:
Peter Gau
+1 212 815 2754
peter.gau@bnymellon.com
¹ ESG assets under management statistics are sourced from the 2016 Global Sustainable Investment Review, available publicly at http://www.gsi-alliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/GSIR_Review2016.F.pdf. It is anticipated that this review will be updated during Q1 2018.