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Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia:

Fund managers are paying more attention to social considerations, such as labor rights and diversity, than they were prior to the outbreak of coronavirus, said a study.

According to BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM) study on the importance of ESG criteria for investors in the Covid-19 environment, ESG has become an even greater focus for 23% of respondents: 81% of respondents already employ ESG in all or part of their portfolios and a further 16% plan to do so.

The leading reasons were to positively impact society or the environment (80%), reduce risk (58%) and meet stakeholder needs (47%).

Overall, almost a quarter of respondents (23%) said that ESG has become 'more of a focus/more important' as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. French respondents led the way, with 42% thinking that ESG has become more important; whereas the proportion in Germany was notably low at just 3%.

The importance of all three ESG factors has increased since the crisis began, most notably for social considerations, which 70% of respondents expect to become extremely or very important as we move forward.

The importance of social criteria rose 20 percentage points from before the crisis, closing the gap on Environmental (up 11% to 74%) and Governance (up 4% to 76%) factors.

Environmental and governance factors remain the most important ESG elements of investment approaches, although the increasing focus on social issues shows a major parad......................

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