Pictet Asset Management has entered into a partnership with the Ethos Foundation, a Geneva-based socially responsible investment group and c...

Pictet Asset Management has entered into a partnership with the Ethos Foundation, a Geneva-based socially responsible investment group and corporate governance consultant, to manage socially responsible investments. Pictet said in a statement that the two partners will initially manage more than $1.1 billion in the asset class. The two firms will launch the Ethos Institutional Investment Fund, an umbrella fund administered by Pictet Funds, which will pool the different portfolios currently managed by Ethos. Ethos currently manages SRI investments for 75 Swiss pension funds. The joint-venture partners say they have developed an investment process that will apply to different segments of the new fund. There are: Indexed Equities Switzerland - Corporate Governance; Europe Equities ex-Switzerland; North-American Equities; World Equities ex-Switzerland, and to the Swiss investment fund, "Pictet-Ethos Sustainable Swiss Equities”. The investment process includes non-financial assessment of the companies, analysis of the environmental and social impact of their activities, and in-depth financial analysis.