The asset management company ESG-AM AG, founded in 2021, has cleared a first important hurdle and received authorisation from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA to commence its activities as a manager of collective assets, subject to certification of legal validity. At the same time, the company has further strengthened its staff with the appointment of Robert Koch.

FINMA approval is the prerequisite for ESG-AM to be able to operate and actively offer its services. The entire team around CEO Philipp Good is delighted that the licence has been granted, subject to a certificate of legal effect: “Thanks to the intensive preparatory work of the motivated team, we were able to keep the licensing phase extremely short, at just over five months, which makes us extremely happy. Now we are finally ready to realise our vision of a concentrated service and product offering for sustainable asset investments.”

Primary focus on the “E” and the “S”

As a first step, ESG-AM will focus on a strategy in the liquid bond space that focuses on investing in the transition to a net-zero energy path.

ESG-AM would also like to position itself in the “S” (Social) area of ESG in the future. A strategy is envisaged that addresses the two Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 5 “Gender Equality” and 8 “Decent Work and Economic Growth” and is based on a specially developed methodology.

These Article 9 funds in accordance with SFDR guidelines (Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation) address central problems in the field of sustainable investments: that of impact. For it is not only the sustainability champions on the market, but those companies with the greatest catch-up potential that can achieve the greatest impact.

Increase in staff

In order to be able to implement the ambitious product strategy, ESG-AM has also increased its personnel resources and brought on board Robert Koch, another partner and proven expert in the area of multi-asset/absolute return. After completing his Master’s degree with a focus on investment banking, entrepreneurship, mathematics and statistics, Robert Koch was the former Senior Portfolio Manager responsible for the Fisch Asset Management Absolute Return Strategy and was instrumental in establishing and expanding this area. Before that, he worked as a portfolio manager at Union Investment Austria and as a business analyst at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants in Vienna.

We have also created internships for young professionals with the aim of giving young people access to the topic of ESG. Philipp Good comments: “We consider it a great duty to accompany young people on their training path in the financial services industry and benefit from their commitment and passion ourselves.”