Asset class search: How the ‘anti-greenwasher’ funds performed

Examining the figures closely, Mithursha Kesavan finds that the performance of SFDR-compliant funds over six months ranged from 27.1% to -28.24%.

The Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) was introduced into the financial industry to avoid greenwashing and create more transparency and clarity for sustainable investing. Transparency in ESG is a key topic amongst institutional investors. Launching this classification within CAMRADATA Live gives investors precise, in-depth analysis of these funds.

CAMRADATA introduced SFDR classification within the CAMRADATA Live database in April 2022. More than 280 funds have been classified within a month and are broken down into Articles 6, 8 and 9. The asset types of the funds have varied across Equity, Fixed Income, Multi Asset and Private Markets. The base currency of the vehicles are USD, EUR, GBP, JPY and CNY.

The performance returns of the funds that have been classified for six months ranged from 27.1% to -28.24%.

A peer group analysis of 103 funds with an SFDR classification and a base currency of USD demonstrates in relative terms, for the three-year period to March 31, 2022, that 28 vehicles performed above their benchmark return whilst taking more risk to achieve this in comparison to the benchmark.

Global Equity (USD) has 39 funds within the SFDR universe, with Article 8 being the most common classification. CAMRADATA’S proprietary IQ scores show that the best-performing manager in the Global Equity (USD) universe for the three years to March 31, 2022 was PineBridge Investments with its product PineBridge Global Focus Equity Composite (Article 8).

This vehicle achieved an excess return of 6.21% over the benchmark, whilst taking excess risk of 4.40% to achieve it.

In comparison, the best performing manager for one year to March 31, 2022 was Janus Henderson Investors with its product Janus Henderson Horizon Global Property Equities Fund (Article 6). This vehicle achieved an excess return of 9.46% over the benchmark, whilst taking excess risk of 6.93%.

CAMRADATA will continue to collect SFDR classification on the vehicles listed in CAMRADATA Live to give institutional investors a better-quality indication of ESG and to help improve transparency in the market in relation to sustainability processes and risks at both an asset manager firm and vehicle level.