Aktia unveils dark green UI-Aktia Sustainable Corporate Bond fund

By Marisa Wong

Los Angeles, Sept. 1 – Aktia Bank plc launched its new UI-Aktia Sustainable Corporate Bond fund on Sept. 1, according to a press release.

UI-Aktia Sustainable Corporate Bond is classified as a so-called dark green fund in accordance with Article 9 of the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation. The fund invests only in green, social and responsible bonds as well as sustainability-linked bonds, and each investment object is also required to have a positive net impact, considering, for example, the impact on society and the environment.

While the fund primarily invests in investment-grade bonds, it can diversify up to 20% of its investments to high-yield bonds with a rating of at least BB- and up to 3% to unrated bonds.

The largest individual sectors for the fund’s investments are financial services and utilities, with a wide company-level diversification. Regarding sustainable corporate bond categories, the majority of investments are directed toward green bonds, the company noted.

In assessing the sustainability of investment objects, the fund uses the ISS ESG climate risk analysis as well as company-specific ESG assessments and analyses. Aktia also uses ESG data produced by Morningstar (Sustainalytics). The investment objects’ net impact on the social and ecological environment are continuously analyzed and reported through the AI-based impact tool developed by the Finnish Upright Project, according to the release.

The bond fund will initially be available to professional institutional investors, but the objective is to make the fund available to retail investors at a later stage, the company said.

The fund is also sold to professional institutional investors internationally through Universal-Investment-Luxembourg SA, Aktia’s fund distribution partner in Europe. In Finland, the pension insurance company Veritas has entered the fund as a seed investor with €20 million.

Aktia is an asset manager, bank and life insurer based in Helsinki, Finland.

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