Swiss Re to integrate ESG benchmarks into investment decisions
Source: Asia Insurance Review | Aug 2017
Global Reinsurance
Swiss Re has been consistently integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations into its investment process since the start of 2017. It is among the first in the (re)insurance industry to do so.
The company is convinced that taking ESG criteria into account makes economic sense and reduces downside risks especially for long-term investors. By implementing ESG benchmarks, Swiss Re has taken a step forward from considering ESG as an “add-on” approach to making it an integral part of its investment process.
“Enhancing our investment portfolio by adopting broad-based ESG benchmarks has been the most meaningful and strategic step in our journey to integrate ESG considerations into the investment process”, said Mr Guido Fürer, Group Chief Investment Officer at Swiss Re. “These benchmarks represent a suitable tool to achieve the desired investment behaviour and set the right measurement both from a performance and ESG perspective.”
Swiss Re advocates that the impact could be very powerful if more institutional investors followed the ESG route, given the US$75 trillion of institutional assets under management worldwide. This would be a big step forward in making the world more resilient, it said. A