SEC investigates Goldman Sachs on ESG funds: “Fake Green” scandal continues
According to the WSJ , the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating Goldman Sachs' wealth management division regarding the definition of ESG, i.e. socially and environmentally sound, of some of its funds. So the SEC wants to assess whether the fund has been correctly defined or whether it is yet another case of “Greenwashing”, that is, essentially, of green scam. Just a few days ago Goldman Sachs announced its big comeback in the $ 700 million ESG fund industry.
The civilian investigation is examining some Goldman Sachs funds that bear the name of clean energy or ESG, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the investigation. Goldman renamed its Blue Chip Fund as the US Equity ESG Fund in June 2020, and it is being investigated how true this is.
In 2021, the executive arm of the SEC launched an ESG task force to investigate the sustainability claims of investment managers and companies. In May, BNY Mellon was the first asset manager to settle with the agency for allegedly misleading investors over ESG claims.
According to the SEC, BNY Mellon Investment Adviser hinted in some documents that all investments in the funds had undergone an ESG quality review, although this was not always the case. BNY Mellon, who paid a $ 1.5 million fine, said it had updated the fund documents.
Authorities are also investigating DWS, Deutsche Bank's wealth management division, for possible greenwashing. Earlier this month, DWS CEO Asoka Wöhrmann resigned hours after the company's Frankfurt offices were raided and evidence was seized by police who were investigating the greenwashing allegations. DWS denied having committed any wrongdoing.
The SEC is right now reviewing its ESG definition criteria making them more stringent and effective, but, at the same time, it is precisely the definition of "Green" and "Socially correct" that is vague, imprecise, changeable and absurd, such that these Greenwashing practices will also repeat themselves in the future. It should be clear that, instead, one is free to invest in everything that is legal, without moral guides that are not part of the economic world. The mess we are experiencing now is precisely linked to the absurd mix of economics and moralism from a lot to the kilo that is served up at every turn.
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The article The SEC investigates Goldman Sachs on ESG funds: the "Fake Green" scandal continues comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/la-sec-indaga-goldman-sachs-sui-fondi-esg-prosegue-lo-scandalo-del-finto-green/ on Sat, 11 Jun 2022 08:00:49 +0000.