Investors willing to pay more for ESG

When making an investment decision there are many factors that need to be considered. Such as the investment goal, appetite for risk and investment term. Another important factor to be considered is fees, how much will the investment cost and what impact will this have on the overall performance.

All funds charge a fee, and the amount can vary depending on the management style of the fund. With the ever-growing interest in environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments, an important area to understand is how much investors are willing to pay to access these funds.

Our latest research showed that 60% of investors said they would be willing or likely to pay more in fees to invest in an ESG fund.

We did see some regional differences with those in Asia on the whole being more likely to pay higher fees, with 68% agreeing, versus only 51% in Europe.

However, we also saw the biggest swing in Asia with the Philippines most willing to pay more with 89% of investors agreeing, verses just 35% in Japan – which looks to be the most price sensitive country from all those surveyed.