FTSE 100-listed wealth manager St James’s Place is to join the ranks of institutions seeking to ensure investments are made with a focus on ethical, social and governance performance (ESG).
The Financial Times reports that the wealth manager is to increase the demand for fund managers to consider ESG, and that interest among clients had increased.
The FT cites St James’s Place chief investment officer Chris Ralph saying that interest has spike in part because “more is being written about it”, and also because clients were observing trends in society.
The FT reports that the ESG investment market may be worth £1.5bn in the UK. It says that the drive for ESG investment in the UK has come from “family offices”, the bodies that manage the wealth of the super rich.