Novethic Release: SRI up 35% in France

kristySRI/ESG News

SRI up 35% in France: steady growth
driven by the conversion of existing funds

Paris, 28 April 2011 – Today Novethic is releasing the results of its exclusive annual review of the French market for Socially Responsible Investment (SRI). SRI assets under management owned by French clients reached EUR 68.3 billion, representing a 35% increase between the end of 2009 and the end of 2010. This robust growth stems from the conversion of large existing funds to SRI and buoyant employee savings, despite the relatively challenging context for asset management.

The divide widens between pooled fund management and separate account management

Boasting growth of 39%, collective management accounts for 59% of the SRI market and exceeds EUR 40 billion, while segregated asset management amounted to EUR 28.2 billion. This predominance of pooled fund management began in 2009 and prevails today, notably with the conversion of non-SRI funds worth more than EUR 10 billion to SRI.

This helped offset the outflow of EUR 2 billion from mutual funds, more specifically SRI money market funds, in 2010. The financial performance of pooled fund management was not as high as in 2009 (up EUR 0.5 billion versus EUR1.6 billion) but remains positive.

Employee savings: one euro out of six is SRI

For the second year in a row, SRI employee savings virtually doubled. With assets under management of nearly EUR 10 billion, this segment currently represents 18% of the entire employee savings market. This outstanding performance results from the French law passed on 1 January 2010 requiring companies to offer at least one community investment fund in employee savings schemes. Indeed, these community investment funds are often also SRI funds.

The market share of individual investors remained stable

SRI assets under management owned by individual investors also rose in 2010, but this was due to the strength of employee savings. As a result, the individual investment segment remained at 30% of total French assets under management.

After leading the institutional investor segment in 2009, insurers came in third in 2010, behind private pension and welfare funds (28%) and public pension funds (26%). Together, these three categories account for 75% of the market.

Click here to view the summary highlights of the survey: http://www.novethic.com/novethic/v3_uk/upload/2010_Highlights_of_the_French_SRI_Market.pdf

Novethic, as part of Caisse des Dépôts, is the leading research centre in France on Socially Responsible Investment (SRI). In 2009, Novethic launched France?s first SRI label, which is awarded to mutual funds that fully integrate ESG factors and provide exhaustive information on their extra-financial characteristics and portfolio holdings. www.novethic.com

Contact: Célia Juère – [email protected] – +33 (0)1 58 50 98 23