Six out of ten fund managers and analysts say they have noticed a grown interest in socially responsible investment over the past two years. An even greater number (69% of fund managers and analysts) expects the SRI market to grow over the next two years. The European SRI retail market is currently estimated to be worth €12.2 billion2, while the European SRI institutional market represents €336 billion3. Survey responses also confirm that nearly half of Europe's financial institutions already offer SRI products.
It is becoming clear that the financial community sees a direct link between non-financial risks and shareholder value: eight out of ten fund managers and analysts believe that the management of social and environmental risks has a positive impact on a company's market value in the long-term. The view is echoed by the companies themselves: IROs think that good social and environmental performance in the long term influences a company's brand and reputation (69%), economic performance (46%), and market value (36%).
While six out of ten survey respondents noted an improvement in companies' communication practices on social and environmental performance, 56% think it can still get better. Italy, Spain and the Netherlands are the least satisfied with the quality of information provided (65%), while the UK is an exception with more respondents satisfied (44%) than dissatisfied (38%).
"The European financial community has made significant strides forward in understanding CSR and recognising the importance of social and environmental performance in making investment decisions. CSR issues are becoming more relevant to their work of fund managers and financial analysts - many of them are realising that CSR is not an add-on, but imperative to a company's daily management", said CSR Europe's chair Etienne Davignon.
"Socially Responsible Investment is gaining ground and is a complementary tool for fund managers and analysts for providing more transparency, new insights into global risks analysis - in that respect, we are going in the right direction," said Jean-François Théodore, chairman of the Managing Board and CEO of Euronext.
"We are encouraged to see that the SRI market is continuing to grow and we believe that the factors behind SRI investment will inform mainstream investment decisions in the next three years. We also anticipate more voluntary integration of better social and environmental practices in business operations," said Preben Soerensen, partner at Deloitte.
For more information please download the full survey at www.csreurope.org.
1Based on interviews (conducted by TN Sofres) with 388 fund managers, analysts and 80 investor relations officers in nine European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and United Kingdom). Investor relations' officers represent 80 companies from the FT's Europe 500 (by market value).
2Source: SiRi Group and Avanzi SRI (2003)
3Source: Eurosif (2003)
