Clients piling ESG billions into money market funds

Shifting priorities: A file photo of a BNP Paribas signage in Paris. The bank says it has seen inflows into money market funds for two consecutive years. — AFP

Paris: BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM) says environmental, social and governance (ESG) clients have been piling into money market funds, drawn by the allure of stable returns in cash-like instruments.

There’s “lots of cash” to move around and clients are reacting to “the volatility of the market in general,” said Thibault Malin, an investment specialist at the fund management arm of Europe’s biggest bank.