Santander launches its first social investment fund in partnership with (RED)
- Santander Prosperity is Santander Asset Management’s (Santander AM) first social investment fund. The multi-theme fund will invest in global equities of innovative companies that tackle major social challenges in health and well-being, nutrition, education, and financial inclusion.
- The Fund will be offered to investors in Chile, Germany, Portugal, Spain, the UK and the markets where Santander Private Banking International (SPBI) operates.
- Santander AM is the first asset manager to team up with (RED), the organization founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver, and the fund will donate 15% of its management fee to help fight AIDS and ensure preventable and treatable diseases that can affect any of us.
Santander Asset Management launches Santander Prosperity, its first social investment fund classified under article 9 of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). Formed in collaboration with (RED), the fund will invest in multi-theme, global equities of innovative companies whose products and services aim to tackle challenges in health and well-being, nutrition and education, and financial inclusion.
At least 30% of the revenue of the companies in the fund portfolio will come from activities related to the United Nation’s 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs), providing a relevant contribution to solving the main social challenges.
Domiciled in Luxembourg, the fund will be offered to investors in Chile, Germany, Portugal, Spain, the UK and on the markets where Santander Private Banking International (SPBI) operates. It will be launched in Brazil, Poland and Mexico at a later date.
Through Santander Asset Management, the Santander Group has joined forces with (RED), the organization founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver in 2006 to fight AIDS. The fund will donate 15% of its management fee to save lives by funding testing, treatment, and care services in places that need it most.
The launch of our first social investment fund asserts our commitment to sustainability and aligns with the Santander Group’s purpose of helping people and businesses prosper. The partnership with (RED) will support our efforts to wipe out diseases that affect the world’s most disadvantaged people, especially in Latin America. We took several measures to alleviate the humanitarian and economic crisis of the coronavirus pandemic — including the creation of the Fondo Solidario (“Solidarity Fund”) — and we don’t want to stop there.
In order to beat AIDS and tackle the injustices that enable pandemics to thrive, we must harness the power of the private sector in new and innovative ways. The Santander Prosperity is not merely a financial investment, it’s an investment in both our collective health and humanity. We’re thankful to Santander Asset Management for their leadership and commitment to supporting (RED) and saving lives in the years ahead.
Santander Asset Management has 71 socially responsible investment (SRI) funds and over EUR 38 billion in SRI-eligible assets under management (AUM). Santander’s Wealth Management & Insurance division houses Grupo Santander’s asset management, private banking and insurance teams and it aims to reach EUR 100 billion in sustainable AUM by 2025.
Santander Asset Management, which has its own SRI rating methodology, was the first asset manager in Spain to have an in-house ESG team. It also became the first fund manager in Spain to join the global Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, which sets out to achieve net-zero CO2 emissions in all AUM by 2050. Last November, it announced its target to halve the net emissions stemming from its AUM by 2030. The targets for net-zero AUM (which are subject to emissions gauging and metrics) align with the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative. Santander Asset Management became the first Spanish multinational to join the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), a European body that promotes collaboration between investors on climate change matters and represents investors committed to a low-carbon future. It is also a signatory to the UN’s Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).
