European SRI and green fund sales slump as market crisis drags on

Both European retail SRI and green-themed funds suffered large asset slumps during August this year as the market crisis continued, according to the latest available figures compiled for Responsible Investor by Lipper FMI, the investment data group. SRI, or RI Screened funds as they are labelled by Lipper FMI, reversed inflows of €656.8m July to record outflows of €1.1bn in August. ‘RI screened’ funds, as they are labelled by Lipper FMI, are those which have undergone an ‘extra-financial’ ESG (environment, social and governance) screen in their stock selection process. Most funds in the sector failed to make it into double figure asset growth during August. Cash and emerging markets funds dominated those that did. The best selling RI Screened fund was French asset manager Amundi’s Tréso ISR (SRI cash) fund with growth of €175.6m. Second best seller was US manager Capital International’s Screened Emerging Markets Equity with receipts of €94.3m. Third was Paris-based Natixis’ Impact Cash fund with new assets of €39.2m.The largest fund is Amundi’s Tréso ISR with €7.5bn. Second is Natixis’ Fonsicav money market fund with €4.2bn. Green themed and norms-based European RI retail fund sales –labelled ‘RI Extended’ by Lipper FMI – recorded their third successive month of outflows during August, down by €400m. That followed asset losses for the sector of €272.7m in July and €209.3m in June. RI Extended includes funds with multiple ethical exclusions, those following a norms-based strategy, and themed climate change and microfinance funds. Norwegian financial services group KLP was one of a handful of managers putting on assets as its Aksje Fremvoksende Markeder Indeks I, emerging markets equities fund, took in €265.3m over the month. Fellow Norwegian manager, Storebrand’s Likviditet Norwegian money market fund was next with asset growth of €63.4m. The UK’s CCLA Investment Management, the specialist fund manager for charities, faith organisations, and local authorities, was third with inflows into its mixed assets COIF Charities Investment fund reaching €33.7m. The largest RI Extended fund is Pictet’s Water fund with assets of €2bn. Second is Storebrand’s Global Stat fund with €1.8bn
The mainstream European retail equity fund market also suffered a significant outflow of €31bn over the month.