JAKARTA – Star Asset Management (STAR AM) believes that the prospects for mutual fund products based on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) implementation will be positive. In line with this, the company has prepared 1 new product which will be released in the middle of next year. STAR AM Chief Investment Officer Susanto Chandra said that the prospects for ESG-based mutual funds are very good in the future.

He explained that companies that implement ESG principles well tend to provide relatively better financial performance compared to companies that pay less attention to ESG principles. "If the government continues to provide incentives in terms of implementing ESG, such as tax incentives for investment in the renewable energy sector, then we see that ESG adoption will be faster," he said when contacted this week.

In line with this positive prospect, Susanto said that his party does not rule out the possibility of adding an ESG-based mutual fund product line. Currently, STAR AM is conducting an internal study to identify investor interest in the 2 ESG indices that will be released by the IDX next week. If investor interest is deemed large enough, STAR AM will likely launch a mutual fund product that uses one of the 2 new indices as the underlying asset. He said, STAR AM plans to launch an ESG-based mixed mutual fund product in the next semester I/2022.

"We will release this product considering the very positive response from potential investors," he added. Meanwhile, currently STAR AM has Star Sustainable Equity mutual funds and Star ETF Sri Kehati which are included in ESG mutual fund products. Susanto added that one of the advantages of ESG-based mutual fund products is that companies that apply this principle tend to have better profitability and cash flow capabilities. Thus, mutual fund products can provide more optimal returns to investors in the long term.

Sumber: https://market.bisnis.com/