FLASH AWARDS OCTOBER 2009
14 Natixis Asset Management funds earn Novethic’s SRI Label The Novethic SRI Label* has been awarded to fourteen SRI funds managed by Natixis Asset Management and targeted at its direct clients and, more specifically, at clients of the Caisses d’Epargne and Banques Populaires networks. The Novethic SRI Label aims to encourage the information transparency about SRI funds and to provide a simple kitemarket for individual savers. These Novethic SRI Labels replace Novethic’s former rating system which ran from “aaa” for the best funds to “b” for the less good. n Natixis Asset Management SRI funds earn Novethic label: Natixis Impact Actions Euro Natixis Impact Aggregate Euro Natixis Impact Cash Natixis Impact Europe Equities Fund Natixis Impact Life Quality Natixis Impact Euro Corporate Bond Fund Insertion Emplois Dynamique
Insertion Emplois Sérénité Ecureuil Bénéfices Emploi Ecureuil Bénéfices Environnement Ecureuil Bénéfices Responsable Fructi Euro ISR Fructi H2O Fructi ISR Obli Euro
n The methodology behind the Novethic SRI Label Labels are granted to applicant funds that apply a full Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) analysis to their investments and provide exhaustive information on their non-financial characteristics and composition. The labels are awarded for one year and reviewed every six months.
The four fundamental criteria for the award of the label are**: • Environmental, Social and Governance analysis • transparency of the process • high-quality non-financial reporting • publication of the full composition of the portfolio
n More transparency Non-financial reports and publication of the full composition of portfolios have been the subject of specific developments to make them freely accessible on the websites of Natixis Asset Management, Caisses d’Epargne and Banques Populaires. Also, Natixis Asset Management is committed to providing clear and transparent communications on its SRI processes,
making available to investors all the information they need to understand SRI investment strategies on its website: www.am.natixis.com Therefore Natixis Asset Management has created an extra-financial factsheet for all SRI funds and has signed the Transparency Code of AFG (Association Française de Gestion) and FIR (Forum de l’Investissement Responsable).
The figures mentioned refer to previous years. The Fund’s past performance or reference to any rankings or awards received by it or its manager cannot be interpreted as indicating the future performance of the funds or of their managers.
www.am.natixis.com
FLASH AWARDS
*Novethic Novethic is the French centre for research on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Socially Responsible Investment (SRI). Novethic is also an expert media resource on sustainable development (www.novethic.fr). ** Novethic’s SRI label methodology (source: www.novethic.fr)
These documents must be accessible to any visitor to the management company's website, and as far as possible, on the website(s) of the distributor(s). Where the Transparency Code is complied with, but the information supplied is too detailed, it will also be advisable to comply with the second provision, whereby a brief explanatory description can be made available publicly to investors. Criterion no. 3: Extra-financial reporting
Criterion no. 1: SRI management – ESG (environmental, social and governance) analysis Management of the UCITS must take into account ESG factors and possibly ethical criteria excluding certain securities or sectors. The SRI management approach adopted by the fund manager must provide encouragement to the best issuers on extra-financial issues. In order to ascertain if this is the case, Novethic assesses whether the management process uses: • an ESG rating based on a structured analysis (the thresholds must be defined for the selection or weighting of securities) OR • as a minimum requirement, a qualitative ESG analysis with the effects documented in terms of selection and/or exclusion and/or commitment to issuers These methods must apply to at least 90% of the portfolio in terms of assets (excluding liquidity and any solidarity funds) AND lines, irrespective of asset class Thus, a maximum of 10% may be invested in securities that have not been assessed on extra-financial grounds. Whatever the formula used, the environmental AND social AND governance factors must be analyzed and/or noted, even if the approach adopted favors one or more of these categories over the others. In the case of qualitative analysis, a detailed examination will be carried out on the transparency criteria of the process and on reporting, providing a description of the impact of these qualitative analyses on portfolio composition.
Monthly and/or quarterly reporting of an SRI UCITS must have a complementary dimension to the reporting for non-SRI funds. It must contain the following elements:
Criterion no. 2: Transparency The investor must be able to understand the SRI and/or ESG characteristics of a fund, and the impact of these on the management of the fund. In order to do this, the following elements are noted: • Whether the fund manager claims that the fund complies with the AFG-FIR Transparency Code, and makes recent compliance documents (produced within the last year, as stipulated by the Code) available to the public. These documents must be easily accessible on the management companies’ websites, in the SRI section of the websites and/ or on the pages dedicated to the fund. • Whether the fund manager provides information on the SRI process covering methodology AND the stages in the ESG selection of securities on the management company's website. These stages must prioritize selection led by an SRI management approach. The pages showing this information (and any corresponding brochure) must be easy to find on the management company’s website and/or on the pages dedicated to the fund, and they must be dated. They must have been published or updated within the last year.
To avoid the risks attached to disclosing sensitive information, it is acceptable for publication to be delayed (but it must take place no more than six months after than the list is published). It is also possible not to specify the size of each position within the portfolio. The required document must be distributed systematically to fund subscribers and made more widely available to the public on request.
• qualitative information on ESG aspects that have led to recent investments and disposals or to any concrete steps taken towards making a commitment to issuers OR • quantitative information on the ESG characteristics of the fund This information must cover all assets. Extra-financial reporting may be distinct from financial reporting, provided that it is released with sufficient frequency (the minimum required is quarterly), that it is as easily accessible as financial reporting and that it concerns the securities in the portfolio specifically, and not general SRI factors. In particular, this reporting must be made public on the management company’s website, and ideally, in the ways most directly accessible to clients (brochures and documents distributed via branch networks, the website and the distribution network, etc.). Criterion no. 4: Portfolio composition reporting The full composition of the portfolio and therefore the list of UCITS must be made public, at least every six months. This publication must be comprehensible to investors and therefore, a version must be adapted from the inventory produced by the depository to make it easier to read.
It is recommended that for greater transparency towards investors, this list of positions is published more often than every six months, and that the list of securities is accompanied by a brief description of the securities’ ESG characteristics, thereby addressing possible questions from subscribers in advance.
www.am.natixis.com