(New York)

ESG has been getting more and more mainstream, and yesterday it likely took the final hurdle to major acceptance. A top asset manager with almost $1 tn in AUM announced that from here forward, all its new funds would be ESG. The manager is DWS group, which is majority owned by Deutsche Bank. According to DWS, “Sustainability is more than a corporate topic, it’s a society topic and an industry topic”. The move follows UBS’ recommendation last year that investors choose sustainable investing over traditional investing. However, according to some US financial advisors, these kind of moves will come slowly in the US. “There is too much assets tied up in old money and not enough advisor support,” says Jeff Glitterman of Glitterman Wealth Management.

FINSUM: We have to agree with Glitterman here. While BlackRock has certainly been a leader in the US, there is a reason a lot of these big announcements have been coming from European firms.

(New York)

Despite all fears, markets had a fairly strong year in 2020. Why? See the full story on our partner Magnifi’s site.

(New York)

For those paying attention, ESG has had a great run over the last year. While many may feel that in an intangible way, the real world results are strong too, with ESG investments outperforming the S&P 500 by 1.3% in 2020. ESG investment experienced some solid outperformance early in the pandemic because if its natural defensive. Millennials appear to be driving the trend, which seems likely to only increase. More generally, the environment has become a major focus for both retail investors and major asset managers, like BlackRock, which has helped make the sector mainstream.

FINSUM: Our best call for ESG is that it will do great in 2021. The main reason being that the Biden administration is bringing a strong and renewed focus on the environment, which will both awaken public consciousness but also give ESG some favorable regulatory tailwinds.

(New York)

One year ago you could have easily said that brick and mortar retail was effectively dead, or at least had a very bleak…See the full story on our partner Magnifi’s site.

(Silicon Valley)

If you dig under the handful of headlines which have driven financial media during the pandemic, you will find a sub-narrative...See the full story on our partner Magnifi’s site.