BOCHK Asset Management and Blackrock are expected to roll out more ESG funds in Hong Kong.
The BOCHK All Weather ESG Multi-Asset Fund and the Blackrock Circular Economy Fund have received approval from the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) to be offered to retail investors in the region.
For BOCHK AM, this will be the firm’s first ESG-labelled fund, the records show.
Meanwhile, the Blackrock fund was incepted in October 2019 and had assets of $1.6bn as of the end of March, according to its factsheet. It invests in global equities that benefit from or contribute to the advancement of the “circular economy” – a concept that aims to minimise waste by considering the full life-cycle of materials and redesigning products and operations to encourage greater re-use and recycling.
The fund is already available to accredited investors in Singapore, according to data from FE Fundinfo.
Both the BOCHK AM and Blackrock funds also join the growing list of approved ESG or green funds by the SFC, the regulator’s records show.
First published in December 2019, the list of ESG-approved funds includes products that meet ESG disclosure requirements aimed at countering greenwashing. The criteria include the fund’s key investment focus, ESG analysis and evaluation methodologies, and what the firm believes to be relevant “green” or ESG criteria.
Other investment products that were featured on the list this year are the Manulife Global Fund – Sustainable Asia Bond Fund and the Harvest CSI 300 ESG Leaders Index ETF.
The list now has 50 mutual funds and three exchange-traded funds (ETFs), the records show.
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