Asset managers less focused on promoting ESG in Europe

Fewer asset managers are promoting responsible investing in the region, data by Fundamental Monitor shows

Key points:

• Only 27 asset managers were promoting ESG in Q1 2023, down from 43 in Q4
• The percentage of overall advertising dedicated to ESG dropped compared to Q4, but active ESG advertisers dedicated more of their advertising to responsible investing
• The UK was the most crowded market for ESG advertising, followed by Italy, Benelux and Switzerland

Asset managers have focused less on promoting ESG in Europe during Q1 2023, with fewer active advertisers and a lower share of ESG promotion as a percentage of overall advertising, data from Fundamental Monitor shows.

During Q1, 91 asset managers were actively advertising, but only 27 were promoting responsible investing. This was down significantly from Q4, when 43 asset managers were actively promoting their ESG capabilities. In the first quarter of 2023, five asset managers were solely focused on ESG advertising: Eurizon Capital, Robeco, Royal London Asset Management, Eden Tree Investment Management and Alliance Bernstein.

Only 11% of all advertising was dedicated to ESG during Q1, the lowest figure seen since Q2 2021 and down from 18% in Q4. However, when we only look at those asset managers that were actively promoting ESG in Q4, they dedicated 45% of all their advertising to ESG, a significantly higher amount than the 24% seen in Q4.

These latest figures from Fundamental Monitor give an insight into asset managers’ response to the performance woes that ESG strategies have been facing. According to IPE, the year 2022 has been less of a success for global ESG equity strategies as for the first half of the year, 78% underperformed their benchmark, with the median underperforming by 2.5 percentage points. Fundamental Monitor will be actively monitoring asset managers’ advertising behaviour to see whether this effect on advertising is a short-term one. 

All European markets monitored by Fundamental Monitor saw some ESG advertising activity during Q1, but the most crowded markets were the UK (13 advertisers), Italy (11), the Benelux region (10) and Switzerland (10).

There was little movement in terms of the ad purpose since Q4. ESG brand campaigns accounted for 34% of all ESG campaigns, down slightly from 36% in Q4. ESG thought leadership saw a slight drop as well, from 44% in Q4 to 41% in Q1, while ESG fund promotion increased from 20% to 23% over the same period. The first three months of 2023 also saw some ESG event promotion, which made up 1% of all ESG advertising that quarter.

Below are some examples of the type of ESG campaigns that were in market in Europe during Q1 2023:

Allianz Global Investors

Eurizon Capital

J.P. Morgan Asset Management