Generali Investments has been included in the ‘High-impact Socially Responsible Investments’ category in the 2015 report of the responsible investments in France compiled by Novethic, the Paris-based SRI certification agency, auditor and research center and the creator of the first European SRI certification. For the first time ever, Novethic has split the group of assessed companies into three categories, on the basis of how impactful their SRI approach is on the investment choices. Generali Investments has been nominated in the category with the strongest impact.
“The Novethic recognition is testament to Generali Investments’ continuous effort on SRI”, has commented Franca Perin, Head of SRI of Generali Investments. “Being included among the 29 most committed SRI asset managers certifies that Generali Investments is at the forefront of responsible investing thanks to a stringent, proprietary and innovative methodology and top- notch ESG analysis capabilities”.
Novethic has assessed 55 asset management companies operating in France and integrating Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria in their investment choices (barring mere exclusion principles). In the ‘High-impact SRI’ category, Novethic has included those managers applying either a best-in-class approach (i.e. excluding more than half of the investment universe, such as Generali Investments) or a best-in-universe approach (i.e. more than 25%) or offering thematic investments. The ‘High-impact SRI’ category accounted for €54 billion of assets in 2015, out of €746 billion of total responsible investments in France (+29% vs. 2014).
Headed by Franca Perin and composed of five analysts based in Paris, Generali Investments’ SRI team screens approximately 520 European listed companies in 26 different sectors on the basis of 34 ESG criteria. The criteria are applied in a way that rewards those companies making the ‘best efforts’ to reach the ‘best practice’. The initial universe is therefore halved, and the selected companies are included in the proprietary database S.A.R.A. (Sustainability Analysis of Responsible Asset Management). Generali Investments applies its SRI methodology to a portfolio of €30 billion in total. Generali Investments is also the appointed investment manager of two SRI funds – GIS SRI European Equity and GIS SRI Ageing Population.