Expanding on the debate around the performance of SRI Funds

  1. MARTINEZ MEYERS, SUSANA
Supervised by:
  1. María Jesús Muñoz Torres Director
  2. Idoya Ferrero Ferrero Co-director

Defence university: Universitat Jaume I

Fecha de defensa: 30 November 2022

Committee:
  1. María del Mar Arenas Parra Chair
  2. Elena Escrig Olmedo Secretary
  3. Igor Álvarez Echeverría Committee member

Type: Thesis

Teseo: 766473 DIALNET

Abstract

With the growth of SRI funds concerns on doubts about their relative performance have increased. In our systematic literature review, we conclude that the vast majority (67%) of the empirical studies show no difference in the relative financial performance of SRI funds vs their conventional counterparts. From there we move the debate to perform a comparative analysis between the ESG scores of SRI funds and Conventional Funds of the same Mutual Fund. The results show that being a “self-declared” SRI Fund is a significant variable that affects positively the fund's ESG performance score. Finally, we wish to test the effect of the SFDR regulation on self-labeled SRI funds vs Conventional Funds of the same Mutual Fund Company. The results find evidence and reveal a clear reduction of ESG risk after SFDR for all the samples and observe a positive spill-over effect on conventional funds after the entry of the regulation.