Three of the asset manager’s funds were officially awarded the "LuxFLAG ESG Label" by the independent and internationally recognised Luxembourg Finance Labelling Agency (LuxFLAG).
In being awarded the "LuxFLAG ESG Label" on July 1, 2020, the MainFirst Absolute Return Multi Asset, the MainFirst Global Equities Fund and the MainFirst Global Equities Unconstrained Fund now have official certification from an independent labelling agency that they apply both ESG criteria (environmental, social, governance) and international standards for sustainable investing in their investment selection processes. With their commitment to sustainable investments, the Portfolio Management Team led by Fund Manager Frank Schwarz offers their investors transparent, attractive investment solutions and contributes to supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Commitment to core values
The subject of sustainable investing has been attracting media attention for some time now and has also increasingly become a focus for investors during the current coronavirus crisis. MainFirst has a long-standing commitment to responsible investing and the integration of ESG criteria into its investment processes. The company views ESG as a threefold concept, which enables fund managers to improve fund performance by integrating key sustainability aspects into traditional investment analysis. According to MainFirst's investment philosophy, sustainable investing involves much more than just avoiding certain industries or focusing on environmental aspects. Strong corporate governance structures or social and ethical components play an equally important and significant role as further contributing factors in investment decisions. "We believe that a holistic approach is the only way to assess the sustainability of corporate performance," explains Schwarz.
As early as 2015, with the signing of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI), MainFirst, as a multi-investment boutique, clearly demonstrated the importance it places on this global, multi-layered and intergenerational issue. These principles offer a range of possible measures for integrating ESG issues into investment practice. As a signatory, the company fully supports these Principles for Responsible Investment and consequently the integration of ESG sustainability criteria in the investment decision process is, to a certain extent, already a given. As ESG criteria are implemented differently in the review process depending on the asset class or investment universe, there is a certain amount of room for interpretation in the final implementation. The final investment decision is in turn based on a fund-specific process. "In the end, ESG investments are not just about doing something meaningful. Instead, during the investment process it is about considering additional information that is conducive to the stability and consequently the performance of a company,” says Schwarz.
The three MainFirst funds, which have now been awarded the "LuxFLAG ESG Label", have been analysed and verified by an independent committee of experts to ensure that ESG criteria are applied throughout the entire investment process and that international standards of sustainable investing are complied with.
