Harvest Fund Management has officially signed up to the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), becoming one of the first Chinese asset managers to commit to sustainable investment.
PRI was initiated by former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan in 2006, and is intended to help investors understand the impact of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues on investment and encourage its signatories to incorporate those issues into their investment and decision-making process.
Dr Henry Zhao, Group Chairman of Harvest, says: “The Chinese asset management industry has entered into a new stage of development, and responsible investment has become an inevitable trend in China. As a leading asset manager in China with a long-term vision, it is our responsibility to play a positive role in the sustainable development of capital markets, and to help promote quality growth for the economy. We also believe responsible investment is essential to achieve long-term returns and reduce tail risks for our clients.”
Becoming an official PRI signatory is a significant proof point to Harvest’s commitment to sustainable investment. Thomas Kwan, Chief Investment Officer of Harvest Global Investments (HGI), will lead the Group’s strategic initiative on responsible investing. Kwan has already started building up an ESG team with specialists based in both Beijing and Hong Kong. Harvest aims to implement a formal and comprehensive ESG process across all major asset classes, and also incorporate ESG analysis in the research and investment decision-making process.
“As a leading asset manager in China, we intend to build best-in-class ESG research and investment capacity at Harvest,” says Kwan. “We would like to be a pioneer for sustainable development in China’s financial industry and Harvest will stay at the forefront to promote ESG advocacy and collaboration among capital market participants. Harvest will work, together with its peers, asset owners, listed companies, and other financial market players, to create an efficient and sustainable financial system in China and further the country’s green finance development.”
“Harvest Fund Management joining the PRI is a very significant move which sends a strong signal to other asset managers in China about the importance of sustainable investing,” says CEO Fiona Reynolds. “We see interest in ESG growing rapidly across Asia markets so we are delighted to welcome Harvest Fund Management to the PRI and look forward to working with them in the coming months.”
Harvest has been aware of the ESG trend long before joining UN PRI, and has invested based on certain ESG principles. Corporate governance is a major risk factor incorporated in Harvest’s investment process while social factors are taken into consideration for macro research. Harvest has also launched a few environment-focused thematic products – and the first-of-its-kind Index that targets environmental technology as a key inclusion criterion in collaboration with the China Securities Index (CSI).
