The Swiss bank's wealthy clients are plowing $440 million into a sustainable investment push overseen by a Rockefeller offshoot.
American businessman John Davison Rockefeller Sr., who died in 1937, is widely considered the richest person in modern history. Rockefeller Capital Management is the youngest member of the eponymous clan: the New York-based asset manager was spawned out of the 138-year-old eponymous family office just two years ago.
On Wednesday, UBS said it will invest the $440 million into a Rockefeller sustainable fund via its own $10 billion fully-sustainable multi-asset portfolio. The Rockefeller fund picks listed stocks that are improving their environmental, social, and governance, or ESG, criteria, and are likely to keep doing so. Wealthy investors are promised exposure to the incremental positive change on ESG topics, in the hopes of reaping financial performance from the improvements.
Oil vs Impact Investing
UBS' private bank has long sought to pipe for sustainable products to its clientele – the Rockefeller move is among the first major outside investment pushes. Ironically, the Rockefeller asset management arm has poached advisers from the Swiss bank several times in the past.
The Rockefeller dynasty is better known as captains of industry as opposed to «robber barons» like many wealthy contemporaries – in large part because it devoted itself to charitable works early on. The U.S. family, which made its money with oil, was also an early adopter of ESG views into its investment decisions as early as the 1970s.
