According to Responsible-Investor.com, the latest Thomson Reuters Extel/UKSIF Socially Responsible Investing Investing Survey named Threadneedle asset management as the leading Fund Management Firm for SRI. Aviva Global Investors retains its second place rank while BlackRock Investment Management is in third place.
The top ranked brokerage for SRI research remains Société Générale, according to the survey, in spite of the departure of top analysts Valéry Lucas-Leclin and Sarbjit Nahal for Merill Lynch (previously discussed here). CA Cheuvreux is in second place and UBS is in third.
The leading brokerages for corporate governance research were Oddo Securities, UBS and CA Cheuvreux. The leading corporate governance research analysts were Oddo’s Jean-Philippe Desmartin, Léa Sombret and Nahal.
The leading brokerage for renewable energy research was named as HSBC, which also won the award for leading brokerage firm for integrated research on climate change. In July 2010, HSBC hired Zoe Knight, former senior director of socially responsible investing research at Merrill Lynch in London, as director of climate change strategy.
The survey represents the views of over 450 investment professionals from 16 countries. Voting took place from March 20-June 3 and reflects a contribution from 254 buyside firms and 42 brokerage firms/research houses.
The awards were made at a presentation hosted by index firm FTSE Group in London.