Rockefeller Capital Management Eyes ESG Investing As Client Winner - Report

Tom Burroughes

16 April 2018

, the world’s largest wealth manager, has made a point of championing ideas around sustainable, ESG-themed investment. A recent report by Boston Consulting Group and MITSloan Management Review found that investments that deliver financial results are closely correlated with those that are deemed sustainable (Investing For A Sustainable Future, 11 May 2016). Separately, a study by Barclays found that investment-grade bonds with higher ESG scores outperformed those with low ESG scores between 2007 and 2015 (source: MSCI).

As the newswire notes, the situation today is ironic because of how John D Rockefeller became the richest man of his era, founding Standard Oil in the late 19th Century. A controversial figure, this symbol of buccaneering American free enterprise was also attacked for allegedly building a monopoly. His business was eventually broken up by newly-formed anti-trust legislation. Debate continues on whether this action was deserved or not, in the same way that some question whether the Department of Justice was correct to go against Bill Gates' Microsoft in the late '90s.