Amundi rebrands MSCI USA ETF following Article 8 classification

investmentweek.co.uk:

The ETF’s benchmark will change from the MSCI USA index to the MSCI USA ESG LEADERS SELECT 5% Issuer Capped index.

The fund will be called Amundi PEA MSCI USA ESG Leaders UCITS ETF and will be classified as Article 8, with the changes taking effect from 29 September, the company said in a regulatory filing yesterday (14 September).

Amundi boosted by €3.7bn inflows in Q2

As a result of the switch, the ETF's benchmark will also reflect the SFDR re-classification, changing from the MSCI USA index to the MSCI USA ESG LEADERS SELECT 5% Issuer Capped index.

A spokesperson for Amundi told Investment Week the changes were originally decided in November 2022, when it decided to commit a minimum level of sustainable investments in its Article 8 funds, starting from January 2023.

The minimum standard was set to a conservative range of between 0% and 10% for the company's ETFs, with the exception of one Green Bonds Govies ETF, which was classified as Article 9 and had a minimum sustainable investment threshold of 90%.

The spokesperson added: «Amundi's cautiousness at that time was due to the uncertainty regarding the definition of sustainable investments and intended to limit the risk for investors and distributors.

»Since then, some progress has been made and, following our discussions with a number of industry stakeholders, we have decided to update these ETFs minimum sustainable investment commitment levels in order to help our clients better assess the actual sustainable investment profile of our ESG ETFs."

Amundi converts bond ETF into Article 8 portfolio

Amundi, however, noted the increase to the minimum sustainable investment threshold will not entail any changes in the ETFs themselves or their underlying indices.

Gresham