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Asset Managers Can Help Advisors With ESG: Cerulli

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It’s been said many times: For advisors to capture the next generation of investors, they have to get with the program on environmental, social and governance investing, and according to Cerulli Associates, that means getting educated on product offerings and thought leadership. One Cerulli survey found that although today less than half of households prefer ESG investing, 65% of investors under 40 prefer ESG.

But a new study shows the problem might not only be with advisors, but those who create ESG products.

Cerulli found that advisors might be “comfortable with negative ESG screens,” but not as familiar with positive screens. Active asset managers should be able to fill this void with product, which thus far has lagged. That could change as Cerulli found that in 2018, 55% of asset managers stated ESG investment solutions were the top vehicle to create, versus 30% who named active ETFs and 8% who named passive ETFs.

But those developing product “need to allocate the time and resources it takes to implement ESG principles into their investment philosophies,” the Cerulli report stated. That means they must “explicitly define and differentiate their strategies, … Not fully implementing or defining a coherent ESG process for strategies marketed as such, can lead to a loss of credibility for asset managers.”

Further, working with advisors and broker-dealers to “craft” ESG strategies would help, Cerulli says. “Asset managers will see the most success if they tailor their product to advisor demand,” the report stated.

Findings showed some mismatches between what advisor/high-net-worth practices demanded and what asset managers provided. For example, asset managers have tended to overestimate the demand on fixed income and alternative ESG products, but lacked in U.S. and emerging market equity ESG products, Cerulli found.

One way asset advisors can garner more advisor interest is by providing designated product specialists and educational materials as well as strong ESG offerings to help advisors as “they attempt to work more closely with pro-ESG investors,” the report stated. “Moving forward, the alignment of goals between investors, advisors and active asset managers around ESG presents an opportunity for these players to work together for mutual benefit.”

— Check out ESG Interest Is Surging. Where Are the Advisors? on ThinkAdvisor.


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