Securities Times reporter An Zhongwen
As investors have stricter requirements on the quality of listed companies, ESG funds have increasingly become a mainstream investment strategy, and Invesco Great Wall Fund Company, which has a background of overseas shareholders, has also begun to invest in the ESG field.
In an exclusive interview with a Securities Times reporter, Li Haiwei, deputy general manager of Invesco Great Wall Fund, said that ESG quantitative strategies have lower turnover and larger strategy capacity, and are more defensive in the face of market volatility. Alpha is no less.Regarding the current market, the executive of public funds with working experience in Moody's and BlackRock believes that the current A-share market has entered a relatively optimistic state compared with March and April. As the epidemic improves, it is expected that there will be more support The capital market may give positive feedback when policies are introduced and implemented.
Increased disclosure standards
Broadening sources of ESG data
In an exclusive interview with a Securities Times reporter, Li Haiwei said that ESG is an investment method that conforms to the trend of historical development. When the per capita GDP approaches the level of moderately developed countries, Chinese investors are paying more and more attention to the quality of economic growth, which is reflected in investment. In addition to paying attention to the profitability indicators of listed companies, the market also pays attention to whether the company has a relatively long-term sustainable driving force.
"We are not only concerned with the growth of revenue and earnings, but also some medium-term indicators, although they may not be reflected in the financial statements in the short term."Li Haiwei pointed out that there may be some short-term costs for some factors, such as environmental protection, but in the medium and long term, it will greatly promote the overall social development.
Li Haiwei and his team have tried to apply ESG strategies to the quantitative field in recent years.Over the past 4 years, they have researched screening ESG factors and building models.He admitted that there were many challenges during the period. For example, ESG quantification was more dependent on data, and there were high requirements for ESG data sources and accuracy, but these early domestic “infrastructures” were not perfect.Fortunately, however, after the "carbon neutrality" policy, domestic ESG data providers have sprung up like mushrooms after a spring rain."At present, there are at least 200 providers of ESG data in China. At the same time, data disclosure has developed from purely voluntary to semi-mandatory in the past few years, and then to mandatory in the future," Li Haiwei said, which means that the availability of data has become more accessible. convenient.
Expanded position coverage
Reserve more than 600 targets
According to the research of Li Haiwei and his quantitative team, the excess returns of the factors in the direction of social responsibility (S) and corporate governance (G) are more obvious, while the factor of environmental friendliness (E) is relatively indifferent.This may be because the first two factors have a higher weight in the stock price evaluation system currently valued by the market.But whether it is E, S, or G, there are obvious positive contributions.
Up to now, Invesco Great Wall has covered more than 600 stocks that meet the standards in the ESG-themed investment library, which ensures the dispersion of ESG quantitative investment and avoids the problem of homogeneous positions.
In Li Haiwei's view, ESG quantitative products deserve the attention of long-term funds from FOF funds, pensions and other institutions.Because the ESG quantitative product layout is more balanced, the turnover rate is low, the strategy capacity is large, and the medium and long-term alpha is obvious.
For ESG funds that only operate a certain industry chain from the perspective of "carbon neutrality", their strategic capacity is relatively narrow, and at the same time, excessive industry attributes will also cause relatively large fluctuations in the net value of products.However, from the perspective of growth, for some sectors with good long-term development trends in the industrial chain, there is no problem with investment prospects.ESG funds with quantitative strategies, on the other hand, place more emphasis on a balanced layout rather than betting heavily on a certain industry.
How to localize investment strategies?
However, as an imported ESG strategy, it also faces the process of localization.For example, how to adapt to China's cultural soil and the composition of the A-share market, such as whether liquor and coal currently account for a large proportion of the A-share market are accepted by ESG strategies.
"We will consider the localization of ESG, as well as the definition and acceptance of ESG by institutional investors." Li Haiwei told the Securities Times reporter that he would learn from the definition of ESG in overseas markets. .China's ESG does not "one-pot" for liquor and coal stocks, which is also based on the structural characteristics of China's stock market.
It is worth mentioning that the recent removal of Tesla, the leader in new energy vehicles, from the S&P ESG Index has attracted market attention.Regarding the negative list of ESG, Li Haiwei said that there are two main directions for mainstream ESG investment at present, one is through the exclusion of the negative list, and the other is the positive list.At present, Invesco Great Wall's ESG strategy is to integrate the negative list and the positive list in parallel.
In terms of stock pools and daily management, negative lists are used, and the negative lists will be adjusted regularly and dynamically according to the concept of ESG. At the same time, the ESG quantitative investment team of Invesco Great Wall will also use the research of the company's research department to understand For more information about the company, further screening and management will be required.
The positive list, through the multi-factor investment framework, selects stocks with the potential for excess returns in line with the ESG concept, and conducts some over-allocations, such as intellectual property, shareholder rights, executive incentives, and so on.
Shock City ESG Varieties
Strong defensive
Regarding the A-share market, Li Haiwei believes that after the Shanghai epidemic gradually eased, the market gradually rebounded.For the market, confidence has gradually stabilized. If you want to go to a higher level in the future, it will depend more on the implementation of policies such as easing credit.
"At the current point in time, our judgment on A shares will be more optimistic and positive than in March and April." Li Haiwei told reporters that he believed that the epidemic situation will gradually improve, and the stock market will give investors positive feedback.
"The market has ups and downs in the short term, but the upward trend in the medium and long term has not changed. In the current market, ESG quantitative strategies are suitable for deployment." In Li Haiwei's view, the concept of ESG is more likely to be recognized by institutions, but it needs to be recognized by retail customers. time.In fact, ESG strategy funds have better stability of core positions due to better stock fundamentals selected. The market has also proved that ESG varieties have better resilience when the market fluctuated in the past few years, reflecting a strong defensiveness.
(Broker China)
【Editor: Cheng Chunyu】
