Sustainable funds firm SAM appoints new head of indices

SAM (Sustainable Asset Management), the Zurich-based sustainable investments boutique with around $11.5bn (€9.5bn) in assets under management, has named a new head of its sustainability indices business.

Guido Giese is joining from index firm STOXX as the firm’s new Head of Indexes. The group works with S&P Dow Jones Indices to run the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) range. DJSI was launched in 1999 and is the longest-running global sustainability benchmark family, tracking the stock performance of top global firms in terms of economic, environmental and social criteria.
Giese, who was Head of Research and Development at STOXX, will head up development of the DJSI, reporting directly to SAM’s Chief Executive Michael Baldinger. Giese will also oversee DJSI global sales, licensing, partnerships and client services.

Giese takes on a role formerly held by Rodrigo Amandi, who resigned as Managing Director of SAM Indexes in September last year.Amandi has since emerged as a principal in new advisory firm Contrast Capital alongside two other former SAM executives, Stephanie Feigt and Pierin Menzli.

Giese said: “The DSJI have always been at the forefront of providing professional and objective benchmarks and I look forward to continuing the development of the index family.”

SAM is part of Dutch-based asset manager Robeco, itself a subsidiary of the Rabobank group. STOXX is the Zurich-based index firm owned by Deutsche Boerse AG and Swiss exchange group SIX.

In 2010, Dow Jones Indexes and SAM terminated their index calculation agreement with STOXX. The latter launched its own set of global environmental, social and governance (ESG) equity indices using data from research and analysis firm Sustainalytics last year.

The Dow Jones index business is now part of the wider S&P Dow Jones Indices group following an industry merger completed earlier this month. Link to DJSI