AXA IM today announced that it has implemented a number of measures to improve the capabilities of its Responsible Investment (RI) strategy. The developments allow AXA IM’s proprietary research platform, RI Search©, to disseminate increased fundamental and quantitative analysis on more than 2,500 securities directly to portfolio managers, which now includes the fixed income asset class in addition to equity. The developments have also enabled AXA IM to expand its proxy voting coverage into emerging markets, building on its voting activity at over 2,400 annual general meetings globally in 2011, as shown in its 2011 RI Annual Report.
The enhancements in AXA IM’s Environmental, Social and Governance analysis (ESG) coverage come as a result of the following specific developments:
- Appointments to AXA IM's RI team: AXA IM has appointed Luisa Florez as Senior Fixed Income Analyst to its 10 member RI team, which has an average of 14 years experience. Prior to this, AXA IM also appointed June Choi as Senior Corporate Governance Analyst and Vincent Compiegne as Quantitative Analyst.
- New partnership with external research provider: AXA IM has partnered with Responsible Research, a specialist independent ESG research provider which has a methodology specifically geared to emerging markets.
- Independent audit of RI fund range: AXA IM’s RI fund range, which includes the flagship AWF Framlington Human Capital Fund, has been independently audited by Deloitte for its ESG compliance, in order to increase the confidence of investors in AXA IM’s RI product range.
Matt Christensen, Global Head of Responsible Investment for AXA IM said, "The ESG approach is about uncovering a hidden risk or a promising opportunity not always obvious when taking a purely financial view of investments. For example, our research shows that our recommended companies with a good ESG record outperformed comparable companies with a poorer ESG record by over 50% during the period February 2008 to December 2011[1].”
Dominique Carrel-Billiard, CEO of AXA IM, added: “At AXA IM we firmly believe that ESG factors contribute to superior risk adjusted returns for clients in the long term. This is why we are committed to helping clients demonstrate this ESG impact so that an RI approach is no longer a ‘nice-to-have’ box ticking exercise but an integral component of investment decision making.”
A key pillar of AXA IM’s RI strategy is to embed ESG research across its multi-expert model providing clients and their portfolio managers with the opportunity to select the level of ESG integration that best fits their needs and objectives. This is achieved by ESG scoring of individual securities, integrating thematic ESG research across individual portfolios as well as through engagement and voting across all AXA IM shareholdings.
At a time when transparency is top of the list, AXA IM is also leveraging this expanded ESG coverage to meet a growing demand amongst investors for obtaining a holistic view of the ESG impact of their portfolios. Tailored solutions are a key part of AXA IM’s RI strategy and this initiative aims to deliver the ESG impact of investment portfolios, for example by focusing on metrics such as the carbon footprint or women represented on boards.
For more information on AXA IM's RI strategy and performance please click here or see the attached RI Annual Report. AXA IM’s latest thematic ESG research into the skills gap within the Oil and Gas sector can also be found by clicking here.