Sustainable Investing Alerts: July 1, 2018 – July 15, 2018
July 10, 2018 Due Diligence Alert: MODERATE Competitive Alert: 3 Event: Raymond James offers proprietary ESG model portfolios. Briefing Points: i) Raymond James is operationalizing its first range of ESG 3-party sub-advised model portfolios: ii) The model portfolio offerings are proprietary to Raymond James’ advisors and will be overseen by the firms in-house due-diligence team: iii) […]
MBTA Set to Issue First Ever Tax-Exempt Sustainability Bond – A Research Note
Tax-Exempt Sustainable Bond by MBTA The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) announced on September 18, 2017 that it is planning to issue about $574 million in bonds on Tuesday, September 26, 2017, consisting, in part, of Subordinated Sales Tax Bonds 2017 Series A in the combined amount of $232.7 million, including $100.1 million, or 43% […]
Another Way to Have a Positive Societal Impact: Charitable Giving Funds
Summary Beyond implementing sustainable investing strategies by investing directly in individual securities, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as well as other asset types, investors with a desire to achieve positive societal outcomes with their investments have another option, albeit a limited one at this time. This is the opportunity to invest via investment management advisory […]
New Product Profile: PIMCO Low Duration ESG Fund (PLDIX)
Synopsis Like its counterpart the PIMCO Total Return ESG Fund, the PIMCO Low Duration Fund, which is a short-term corporate bond fund, changed its name to PIMCO Low Duration ESG Fund effective January 6, 2017. At the same time, the fund modified its investment strategy to take into account the efficacy of an issuer’s […]
PIMCO Total Return ESG Fund (PTSAX) – New Sustainable Product Profile
PTSAX Synopsis Effective January 6, 2017 the PIMCO Total Return Fund, which is an intermediate-term diversified investment grade portfolio of fixed income instruments, including non U.S. dollar denominated securities, changed its name to the PIMCO Total Return ESG Fund and at the same time modified its investment strategy to take into account the efficacy of […]
BlackRock ESG Fixed Income ETF Launches – Sustainable Exchange Traded Funds Analysis
Last week BlackRock announced the launch of two fixed income ETFs, the iShares ESG USD Corporate Bond ETF (SUSC) and the iShares ESG 1-5 Year USD Corporate Bond ETF (SUSB). These are intended to track fixed income indexes designed to deliver similar risk and return characteristics as the traditional benchmarks but further qualified on the […]
JPMorgan Municipal Income Fund (OTBAX)- New Sustainable Product
Assessment Low Conviction Synopsis As of February 28, 2017, the date of the fund’s updated prospectus, it was noted that this municipal bond fund now invests the majority of its assets in securities whose proceeds provide positive social or environmental benefits, including investments in green bonds. This was not previously the fund’s main […]
Vanguard FTSE Social Index Fund (VFTSX)-ESG Product Profile
Vanguard Social Index Fund Summary Assessment:High Conviction Advised by the Vanguard Group, Inc., this index tracking fund offers an effective US equity-focused sustainable strategy that combines an exclusionary approach along with the integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. The fund has been in existence since May 2000, although its current underlying index, the FTSE4Good […]