Environmental

ING Investment Management wins €1.5bn sustainable fixed income mandate

Sustainability assets almost double at major house

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ING Investment Management, the fund management arm of Netherlands-based global financial institution ING, has announced that it was awarded a €1.5bn fixed income sustainability mandate by an unnamed client last year.

“In 2012, ING IM was …mandated by a client to manage €1.5bn in a fixed income portfolio using sustainability criteria,” ING said. It also won a €400m sustainable global equity mandate from Luxembourg state pension investor the Fonds de Compensation Commun (FDC) last year, according to ING’s new group sustainability report.

The two wins helped to contribute to an almost doubling of sustainable assets under management across ING as a whole – to €5.7bn at the end of 2012, from €2.9bn a year before, although with the caveat that it only reported on sustainable funds under management previously.

ING breaks down sustainable assets in this way: bank financing for renewables (€1.9bn); bank funds (€742m) insurance funds (€691m); and insurance mandates (€2.45bn).ING launched a Sustainable Credit Fund in 2011 and says its assets under management “almost doubled within a year”.

In 2012 ING IM established an ESG [environmental, social and governance board], chaired by Chief Investment Officer Hans Stoter, which approves all sustainability and corporate governance policies.

The firm co-chairs the Shareholder Rights Committee at the International Corporate Governance Network (IGGN).

On renewables, ING declares it “wants to facilitate the transition towards a low-carbon and more sustainable economy”.

But a range of factors – and it own risk appetite – has slowed the progress towards its aim of having renewables account for 50% of its project finance portfolio.

Still, it financed eight large renewables projects in Europe in 2012, including onshore and offshore wind parks and solar photovoltaic plants in Norway, Slovakia, the UK, Romania, Belgium and Italy.

Renewable deals now account for 31% of the energy portfolio while coal projects stand at just 15%.
ING Sustainability Report