TO provide clients with greater transparency over environmental, social and governance (ESG) characteristics of their investment portfolios, DBS has adopted MSCI ESG ratings for its wealth management business.

MSCI ESG ratings score companies on their ESG risk exposure and risk management abilities relative to industry peers. This serves as an additional tool for investors to assess how their investments measure up to others to make more informed decisions.

The adoption of the ratings comes amid mounting interest in ESG investing where ESG factors are taken into consideration when it comes to investment decision-making.

The ratings, which was adopted by DBS in November last year, will be embedded in its suite of wealth products, advisory and discretionary portfolio services.

Wealth clients will be able to access these ratings through their relationship managers upon request. DBS is also looking into leveraging this capability to introduce ESG offerings in retail applications.

While clients are more aware of the relationship between ESG practices and strong corporate financial performance, their decision-making process is often hampered by the lack of historical ESG data or a recognised sustainability benchmark, according to Marc Lansonneur, head of managed solutions, balance sheet products and investment governance at DBS Wealth.

"By adopting MSCI ESG ratings and enabling transparent comparability, we hope to address this gap and drive growth in the ESG investing space," he said.