ESG advisory

Comprehensive, customised ESG services

We view the ESG journey as part of an ongoing process comprising five key areas: beliefs, policy, approach, implementation and accountability.

On Beliefs, Policy and Approach, we know the importance of defining beliefs and embedding them in a clear Responsible Investment policy. A detailed ESG Beliefs Questionnaire captures views from all stakeholders. This supports the development of policies, assessments and clear road maps.

On Implementation and Manager Research, we work with bfinance’s specialists in portfolio design, manager selection and due diligence. We have deep expertise in helping clients to express specific ESG needs in manager research. Using a proprietary ESG framework, we customise analysis to specific asset classes and client mandates.

On Accountability, we understand the value of rigorous scrutiny. Our ESG monitoring framework can be applied as an Annual Health Check or used on an ongoing or ad hoc basis. Top-down and bottom-up analysis complements reporting from existing ESG data providers, going deeper on managers’ processes and capabilities.

How we help our clients

Our institutional investor clients use a wide variety of ESG approaches and have different priorities. They are also at different stages on their respective paths, ranging from ‘first movers’ to those taking their first steps now. For investors that are seeking to make fundamental changes, such as introducing a new Responsible Investment Policy, it can be overwhelming to consider the variety of issues involved and structure an effective process. Meanwhile, investors with well-established ESG approaches seek to assess, refine, innovate and even push the industry to develop new investment strategies to address their ESG or impact concerns.

Understand your ESG beliefs and translate them into strategy. In this rapidly evolving space, our detailed ESG Beliefs Questionnaire enables asset owners to capture the views of multiple stakeholders and gain consensus on the direction of travel. This supports the development of policies, assessments, and clear road maps for action.

Implement your policy when selecting managers. We have deep expertise in helping clients to express specific ESG needs in selecting managers across all public and private market asset classes and aligning your overall portfolio to ESG commitments. We customise all research to clients' needs using highly bespoke RfPs and analysis.

Hold asset managers to account. Our ESG monitoring framework can be applied as an Annual Health Check or used on an ongoing or ad hoc basis. It provides both ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ (holdings-level) analysis on subjects such as climate change exposures, ESG risks, stewardship activity and impact. We leverage ESG data from established providers and scrutinise managers' processes, with client-specific expectations in mind.