Following its low-key emergence in the late 1980s, environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing was initially considered a niche investment strategy, a means of satisfying certain investors’ conscience rather than a guaranteed method of generating above-average returns.
How times have changed. The sustained appeal to retail investors of SRI / ESG investing was highlighted recently by data* which proved its continued popularity and underlined the sector’s impressive returns. Between April and July, more than £1.2 billion was invested in ESG funds, equivalent to the sector’s total inflows over the previous five years.
While the momentum behind ethical investing preceded the pandemic, it seems likely that as the coronavirus ebbs from our lives, we’ll witness a more engaged debate focusing on social and ethical awareness which will question and examine how organisations operate and what they produce.
STM Group plc (LON:STM) is a multi-jurisdictional financial services group listed on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange. The Group was formed as a strategic investment company specifically to build a leading financial services group originally operating in the international corporate and trustee service provider (CTSPs) sector.