A unit of BNP Paribas Investment Partners that specialises in index and alternative investments, Theam, says it has adopted indices that exclude controversial
weapons as the benchmark for its open-ended indexed equity funds.
Subject to the approval of the Luxembourg regulator, the company will employ the MSCI ex Controversial Weapons Indices, which exclude companies involved in the trade of cluster bombs, landmines, depleted uranium and chemical and biological weapons.
“We are confident that indices that exclude companies involved in controversial weapons activities are the benchmarks of tomorrow,” says Denis Panel, chief executive of Theam.
BNP Paribas Investment Partners says it has excluded such weapons from its managed portfolios since 2010, but has not excluded them from indexed portfolios.
Theam says it received a “very positive response” from investors about its plans to exclude controversial weapons from its indexed funds.
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