Covid-19 renews Asia's focus on sustainable investing: UBS

Wealth manager makes sustainable investments preferred solution for private clients investing globally

Published Thu, Sep 10, 2020 · 09:50 PM

Singapore

THE ongoing pandemic has sparked Asia's renewed focus on sustainable investing (SI), with wealthy families increasingly turning to businesses that are able to tide over the global health crisis.

UBS, the world's largest wealth manager, is expecting its family offices in the region to more than double their ESG (environmental, social and governance) asset allocation to 19 per cent of their overall portfolio in the next few years, up from 9 per cent currently.

Mario Knoepfel, UBS head of sustainable investing advisory for Asia-Pacific, told The Business Times that from January to July this year, the firm's flagship 100 per cent SI cross-asset discretionary mandate saw a 50 per cent growth in inves…