Leading African asset manager Old Mutual Investment Group has been named Best ESG Responsible Investor – Africa 2021 by Capital Finance International , a UK-based journal reporting on business, economics, and finance.
Commenting on the announcement, Managing Director of Old Mutual Investment Group (OMIG), Tebogo Naledi says, “The award reflects important and much-appreciated recognition of our commitment to responsible investment, which we have championed with much vigour over the past decades.”
OMIG integrates ESG factors throughout its investment decision-making processes, as well as offering proactive stewardship of investments by exercising proxy voting rights to push for better ESG performance from its investee companies. In addition, its ESG position as a business supports green economic growth aligned with socially inclusive, low-carbon and resource-efficient outcomes.
“We are very proud that the award recognises OMIG’s leadership in the research, analysis, and evaluation of ESG issues,” says Naledi.
Other assessment criteria included excellence, innovation, and overall contribution to long-term health, progress, and stability of the global markets and the experience of investment teams.
“Aside from progress on integration processes our core innovation has been bringing products to the market that capture the opportunity set of the transition to a low-carbon, resource-efficient and socially inclusive growth path.”
Jon Duncan, Head of Responsible Investing at OMIG
Highlights of CFI’s judging panel’s findings include:
• Acknowledgement of OMIG’s belief that responsible investing is a moral imperative as well as an opportunity to gain a competitive business edge.
• Acknowledgement of OMIG’s development of investment solutions that use hard exclusions based on ESG leadership indices and Shari’ah investment principles.
“OMIG is committed to investing for a future that matters. We will continue to drive this agenda and focus our efforts on ensuring that retail and institutional investors are empowered to make sustainable, ethical and financially sound decisions”, concludes Duncan.