Japan’s Nippon Life Insurance Company is investing €125 million in European companies whose bonds score highly by responsible investment criteria.
The insurer has selected Axa Investment Managers to manage the environmental, social and governance (ESG) mandate.
Nippon set up a department in 2014 to oversee investments in corporate bonds and has now invested over 100 billion yen (€811 million) in ESG bonds globally.
Yasutoyo Takada, general manager of credit investment department at Nippon Life, said: ““Corporate initiatives toward sustainability are now essential factors for investment decisions. Going forward, we will be contributing to the further development of the ESG market by communicating our ideas during dialogues with companies and at international conferences.”
Axa IM had €230 billion of corporate bond investments, as at June 30.
Francisco Arcilla, chief executive officer and representative director of Axa IM Japan, said ESG investing in Japan is becoming “increasingly significant” as part of the redevelopment of the Japanese financial industry under Abenomics.
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