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Schroders Singapore, UOB
Schroders Singapore and United Overseas Bank have launched an Asia equity fund focusing on sustainability – continuing a theme of firms tapping into this area.

The institutions have rolled out the Schroder International Selection Fund Sustainable Asian Equity in Singapore. The fund seeks to generate market-beating returns by investing in companies in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan) which meet Schroders’ sustainability criteria. UOB is the exclusive banking partner for the fund, the firms said in a statement yesterday. 

The fund incorporates environmental, social, and governance considerations throughout the investment process and implements a bottom-up approach in identifying investment opportunities in three areas:

-- Sustainable companies – companies that manage their stakeholders well and possess superior return on investment capital (ROIC) profiles;
-- Sustainable living companies – companies that create a positive impact on people and planet; and
-- Sustainable transition companies – companies that are taking action and making a positive transition in their stakeholder relationships.

The Luxembourg-domiciled fund comes in three share classes, which investors can invest with cash, Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS) or CPF (Central Provident Fund) savings. 

In conjunction with the launch, Schroders has also piloted its SchrodersLearn platform with UOB as the inaugural partner. The platform, which will house the UOB-Schroders Sustainable Investing Masterclass, designed to offer UOB relationship managers a learning experience through gamification and modular bite-sized content, will cover a wide range of ESG-related topics. ("Gamification" is the application of typical elements of game playing (e.g. point scoring, competition with others, rules of play) to other areas of activity including, for example, investments and business decision-making.)