Responsible Investment Benchmark launched

London, Jul 18 2008

Responsible investment specialists Rimetrics has launched the first ever industry benchmark that allows asset owners to evaluate, monitor and benchmark individual asset manager strengths and weaknesses in responsible investment practice.

The RIB benchmark is designed to assist asset owners and investment consultants with improving manager selection, meeting fiduciary and other member obligations, and delivering on ESG objectives. It will also appeal to asset managers wishing to gain insight into their own responsible investment competencies and practices and their ESG positioning relative to their peers.

The new Responsible Investment Benchmark (RIB) delivers a benchmark measure of average industry performance across five key responsible investment themes of strategy, engagement, integration, voting, and transparency & accountability.

Data for this robust global industry indicator is gathered from a growing body of research that to date covers information compiled from global asset managers representing over $12 Trillion of AUM and includes over half of the world's leading 20 managers.

Using primary research, the assessment process involved collecting more than 130 different data points from each asset management organisation, most during face-to-face interviews, or conference calls where respondents were based outside of the UK.

Analysis of the RIB benchmark data points towards an industry where responsible investment competencies and practices are generally strongest in relation to proxy voting, and weakest in relation to the integration of ESG knowledge gained through engagement or research.

The benchmark data also suggests that on average asset management organisations are better at articulating a responsible investment strategy than they are at translating this strategy into effective engagement.

Aled Jones, Responsible Investment Manager at The Pension Protection Fund, said, "The ability to compare and contrast managers, on a range of factors regarding their responsible investment capabilities, is a welcome addition to the manager research market. "

Jonathan Horton CEO of Rimetrics said, "The RIB benchmark represents a real breakthrough for an industry committed to ESG but, until now, lacking an effective tool with which to measure it. For the first time asset owners can measure and rate individual asset managers against an independent, credible industry benchmark. This is significant as the maxim 'If you can't measure it, you can't manage it.' applies in this field as in any other."

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