Posted on by Christopher K. Merker, Ph.D., CFA

ESG investing in 401(k)s faces fiduciary, regulatory questions (BenefitsPro)

https://www.benefitspro.com/2019/03/19/esg-investing-in-401ks-faces-fiduciary-regulatory-questions/

Sustainable investing is on a tear.

According to Morningstar research, sustainable investment funds, which the research firms defines as those that use environmental, social and corporate governances (ESG) criteria as measurements for scoring the societal impact of investing in a public company, saw record flows of $5.5 billion in 2018.

Last year marked the third consecutive year of record flows to ESG-premised mutual funds, which increased 50% to 351 offerings in 2018.

Author: Christopher K. Merker, Ph.D., CFA

Christopher K. Merker, PhD, CFA, is a director with Private Asset Management at Robert W. Baird & Co. He holds a PhD in investment governance and fiduciary effectiveness from Marquette University, where he has taught the course “Sustainable Finance” since 2009. Executive director of Fund Governance Analytics (FGA), an ESG research partnership with Marquette University, he is a member of the CFA Institute ESG Working Group, an international committee currently exploring ESG standards, publishes the blog, Sustainable Finance, which covers current topics around governance and sustainability in investing, and is co-author of the book, The Trustee Governance Guide: The Five Imperatives of 21st Century Investing.
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