Refinitiv Increases Investment to Unearth Links Between Sustainability and Financial Performance; Appoints New Head of Sustainable Investing & Fund Ratings

  • Data , People Moves
  • 12.03.2019 06:33 pm

Building on its commitment to drive positive change through its data and insight, Refinitiv today announced that it has appointed Leon Saunders Calvert as Head of Sustainable Investing & Fund Ratings, a newly created role that brings together Refinitiv’s ESG Sustainable Investing and Lipper Fund Ratings businesses to increase focus on unearthing links between sustainable business strategies and financial performance.    

As asset owners and investors increasingly make strategic investment decisions based on Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) factors, Refinitiv is committed to providing insight and transparency around the link between sustainability and financial performance, and plans to increase the universe of corporates covered in its ESG database while initiating ESG scores on public mutual funds.

“As the universe of sustainable investing unfolds, investors are demanding transparency around ESG factors,” said David Craig, CEO of Refinitiv. “We are at an inflection point where the need for corporate disclosure around ESG and sustainability is no longer in question; it is an operational imperative that benefits not only the corporation, but also the wider investment community and our global society at large.   Refinitiv is at the forefront of this rapidly evolving landscape, providing the critical data that enables the transparency and insights necessary for sustainable investing.”

Uniquely positioned to score funds based on various ESG factors helping investors in portfolio construction and fund selection, Refinitiv is the leading provider of sustainability data covering over 7,000 companies with 17+ years of history across 400 metrics. Refinitiv’s Lipper database has holding details on over 380,000 global Mutual Funds with history going back over 40 years.

“We believe that creating a strong link between our ESG and Lipper data will be hugely beneficial to the financial industry as sustainability becomes a key and fundamental metric,” said Pradeep Menon, Managing Director of Investing & Advisory. “Leon’s experience running our large capital markets and investment banking franchises will help us really push boundaries in this incredibly important area.”

“The links between financial performance, risk and ESG are becoming more evident,” said Leon Saunders Calvert. “It is with great excitement that I can help drive further analytics and value to our customers who increasingly need insight into the importance of ESG and its relationship to fund performance metrics.”

Refinitiv has been serving the financial industry with ESG data and solutions for over 17 years and offers one of the richest ESG databases in the industry – a fully transparent resource that is trusted by investors and corporates to drive positive impact and provide comprehensive analysis. As members of the UN Global Compact, Refinitiv is part of a community of 9,000+ businesses across 135 countries that are committed to operating with responsible business practices at its core.

Lipper research provides independent insight to asset managers and institutional investors on global collective investments, including mutual funds, retirement funds, hedge funds, and fund fees and expenses. Lipper offers premium-quality data, fund ratings, analytical tools, and global commentary through specialized product offerings. Trusted by investment professionals for more than 40 years, Lipper provides unparalleled expertise and insight to the funds industry.     

Elena Philipova, Head of ESG, and Robert Jenkins, Head of Lipper, will report to Leon in his new role.  Before joining Refinitiv, Leon ran the research and data teams at Mergermarket, a provider of M&A intelligence to the advisory community, and started his career as an Analyst at advisory boutique, Regent Partners.

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