Responsible investing

BVI's members agreed on 'Guidelines for Responsible Investment' in 2012. The guidelines are now part of our Code of Conduct, to which the asset manager voluntarily commit themselves in accordance with the 'comply or explain' principle.

Accordingly, they develop internal rules for dealing with products and business practices that are prohibited under international law or outlawed internationally. In addition, they undertake to incorporate other relevant codes of responsible investing into their investment processes on their own responsibility. These include, for example, the UN Principles for Responsible Investment.

Fund companies must take appropriate account of ESG criteria when assessing investment risks. They may only label funds as 'sustainable', 'ethical', 'ecological' or similar if these funds invest according to defined ESG strategies. ESG stands for Environmental Social Governance. Assetmanagers must describe these strategies in the fund documents and must inform investors accordingly.