Chicago-based Northern Trust Asset Management has launched two ethically responsible funds that will track MSCI’s Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) Leaders indices.
The Northern Trust World ESG Leaders Equity Index Fund and the Northern Trust Emerging Markets ESG Leaders Equity Index Fund will enable investment in companies that meet ESG criteria in their particular sector and region.
The new funds are the first European funds to track the MSCI ESG Leaders indices and complement an existing MSCI ESG Leaders fund available to US investors.
They will be the latest additions to Northern Trust’s US$10.5 billion (€8.9 billion) range of ESG Ucits funds.
“We see an increasing interest from passive investors in Europe to take their ESG investing a step further with best-in-class solutions and we believe these funds offer a compelling solution,” said Hazel McNeilage, Northern Trust AM’s managing director for Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Northern Trust has around $1 trillion of assets under management, including $65.9 billion in ESG strategies.
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