The U.S.
“Many funds these days brand themselves as ‘green,‘ ‘sustainable,‘ ‘low-carbon,’ and so on,” SEC Chairman
The comments mark the latest warning to the asset management industry to avoid inflated language around its environmental, social and governance allocations. Last week, investors dumped shares of Deutsche Bank’s asset manager DWS Group, after learning it was being probed by Germany’s financial markets regulator BaFin and U.S. prosecutors. The investigations follow allegations by DWS’s former sustainability executive,
The development has rattled an industry that’s struggling to adapt to a much stricter regulatory environment. In Europe, the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, enforced in March, is the world’s most ambitious set of rules yet intended to fight greenwashing and promises to dramatically alter the way the investment management industry operates.
“Investigations by U.S. and German authorities of sustainability disclosures by DWS Group is a sign to all companies that regulators are increasing scrutiny of ESG issues,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst
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Tasneem Hanfi Brögger, Shelley Robinson
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