UBS is strengthening its offerings of sustainable investment with a prominent hire from a local rival. The Swiss bank is gaining ground in this growing area.
Earlier on Friday, RobecoSAM Chief Executive Michael Baldinger surprised observers by saying he was leaving the asset manager. The reason: he is headed for New York to run UBS' sustainable and impact investment activities, finews.ch can reveal.
A spokeswoman for UBS confirmed Baldinger's hire.
UBS Pushes Impact Investing
Baldinger's return to Wall Street makes sense. Prior to joining RobecoSAM, he was head of institutional equity sales for Deutsche Bank in New York. At RobecoSAM, Baldinger led one of the global leading asset managers for sustainable investments.
At UBS, he unites both those elements. The Swiss bank's sustainable investment activities have blossomed recently: nearly 1 billion Swiss francs are sustainably invested, more than one-third of the UBS unit's total.
Gaining On Industry Specialists
UBS is gaining ground with institutional clients in winning sustainable mandates that would previously have gone to specialists or boutiques like RobecoSAM.
The Zurich-based bank recently won a «cutting-edge» mandate, according to UBS' website. UBS won the mandate, worth roughly 1.5 billion francs, in a competing bid in which RobecoSAM also took part, finews.ch can reveal.
