HSBC Asset Management has dropped the Article 9 label from seven of its regional Paris-aligned ETFs, instead categorising them as the ‘lighter green' Article 8 under the EU's SFDR.
In a notice to shareholders, the firm said that it was "in the best interests of investors" for the label to be dropped, "pending further regulatory clarification" on the categorisation of funds that track Paris-aligned benchmarks.
The ETFs changed include the firm's Paris-Aligned ETFs with regional focuses on Europe, Japan, USA, Asia and emerging markets, as well as its global one.
The change will be effective from 1 December and HSBC stressed that this was a re-categorisation for SFDR purposes only.
It added: "There is no change to the investment objective or investment policy of each fund or the way in which each fund is managed."
The move comes following reports that BlackRock, UBS Asset Management and Amundi were all considering downgrading their roster of Article 9 Paris-aligned benchmark and climate transition benchmark ETFs.
ETFs changed from Article 9 to Article 8:
- HSBC MSCI Europe Climate Paris-Aligned UCITS ETF
- HSBC MSCI Japan Climate Paris-Aligned UCITS ETF
- HSBC MSCI USA Climate Paris-Aligned UCITS ETF
- HSBC MSCI USA Climate Paris-Aligned UCITS ETF (Dist)
- HSBC MSCI World Climate Paris-Aligned UCITS ETF
- HSBC MSCI AC Asia Pacific ex Japan Climate Paris-Aligned UCITS ETF
- HSBC MSCI Emerging Markets Climate Paris-Aligned UCITS ETF
