Growth in ESG investments support stronger asset inflows in GCC: Moody’s

DUBAI: The growing demand in Islamic and environmental, social, and governance (ESG)-compliant investments is expected to increases asset inflows over the next 12 months, Arab News reported.

This is according to the asset managers in Gulf countries, based on Moody’s 2021 survey of chief investment officers (CIOs) from eight leading fund firms.

“Half of CIO respondents expect double-digit growth in net inflows, and another 33% [per cent] foresee a high single-digit increase,” Vanessa Robert, vice president of senior credit officer at Moody’s Investors Service, said.

“Improved investment results and stronger fees, already comparatively high in the GCC region, will further support [the] revenue growth,” she added.

There will be a significant increase in the demand for ESG-compliant investment products, around 38 per cent of respondents said, while half of them expect sales of Islamic products will grow faster than the sales of conventional investments next year.

The report also found around 50 per cent of the respondents said they were open to merger and acquisition activities within the next two years.

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