Asian investors face a gap in the sustainable finance marketplace, according to a recent survey by Capital Group, with lacking product innovation cited as a top obstacle to ESG adoption.
46 percent of APAC respondents agreed that lacking product innovation was holding back ESG adoption, according to Capital Group’s «ESG Global Study 2021», compared to 35 percent amongst respondents worldwide.
Respondents in the region also cited lack of consistency in ESG scores (46 percent), lack of robust ESG data (45 percent) and difficulties in accessing required information (29 percent) as hurdles to further adoption.
Greater Demand
According to Capital Group’s global head of ESG Jessica Ground, the emergence of sustainable finance has led investors to increase scrutiny on related information.
«While investors appreciate the importance of ESG integration – and qualitative analysis and engagement by active fund managers – they also report that the lack of robust and consistent data is the main challenge when investing in ESG,» Ground said. «It’s understandable that as ESG becomes more important to these investors, the desire to be rigorous in their assessment of ESG grows.»
Capital Group’s report surveyed 1,040 global institutional and wholesale investors including pension funds, family offices and insurance companies, fund of funds, retail and private banks and financial advisors from 16 different countries. 29 percent of the investors are based in APAC across Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Australia.
