Beginning with client interests, Erika Karp, CEO and founder of Edris Boey, said interest in the region is strong, although Asian investors still view it as “a ‘nice to have’ as long as it doesn’t compromise the returns."

“Multinational investors are increasingly bringing their ESG expertise from Europe and North America – both physically, as well as virtually, by building platforms suited to the Asian market,” Boey said. Maitri hired Boey in Singapore to lead on ESG in 2019 and expanded the team this year as ESG analysis has taken a more central role at the firm.

On advisor knowledge and duty of care to clients, “there is absolutely not enough being done," Karp stresses. "Given that advisors are often fiduciaries, there is another reason to move training forward, and not doing ESG analysis means not living up to an investment responsibility." Karps points to the many global conferences covering ESG analysis and investing, and the many training programs. "Honestly, you can start anywhere, as long as you get started!” she said.

Client reporting is another of her concerns, where many advisors offer ESG ratings and rankings but they lack quality and insight. “We deploy an algorithmic solution that starts with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for our clients. From this we use an “Access” lens to create a heatmap that shows how much exposure our clients get to their priority issues."

Without standardization among ESG reporting agencies, "client reporting is inevitably tailored to the information firms want to see or present to underlying investors," Henry Morgan in 's sustainability group said bluntly.  "Some may be focussed more on the creation of full-time jobs, while others will care more about the carbon emissions of a portfolio." Morgan suggests that the increased due diigence and reporting burden can be passed to the investor and that clients will largely drive the kind of reporting they want to see. "If this means they simply want a manager to report on a set number of KPIs, but are happy for the manager to calculate and report these itself, then the cost is minimal. But if the client wants third-party assessments, they will be required to meet the associated costs."

Like many in the marketplace, Maitri's Boey sees ESG as tailormade for uncertain times. While carbon emissions have plunged in the coronavirus fallout, the firm is “keeping an eye on two long-term key concerns: 1) on the Environmental ‘E’ side of things – retaliatory emissions once the world recovers from the virus and doubles down on production to reboot the economy; 2) for Social ‘S’ considerations – whether businesses are looking after their employees now to ready themselves for the expected surge in productivity post-COVID-19.”

Watchful of how companies are responding in the crisis, Boey said Maitri has also signed up to the “Investor Statement on Coronavirus Response,” a measure that supports businesses providing paid leave and prioritizing worker health and safety, maintaining employment, keeping supplier and customer relationships, and practicing fiscal prudence.These may be big asks depending on the capital buffer, national government responses, and what sectors companies are in.

She is in no doubt that ESG investing is here to stay. “It more than doubled globally between 2012 and 2018 from $13 trillion to $30 trillion. In Asia, it has grown more than 15 times from $188 billion to $2.9 trillion in the same period, while estimated total AuM grew only 1.6 times, from $8.2 trillion to $13.1 trillion. ESG investing is developing into the mainstream and needs to be considered in every situation."