Rathbones is set to add a global sustainable bond fund to its fixed income range on 30 November 2023.
The Rathbone Greenbank Global Sustainable Bond fund will be a global credit fund, focusing on sustainable themes aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The fund will be managed by head of fixed income Bryn Jones and fund manager Stuart Chilvers.
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It will build on the team's existing investment process, known as the "Four Cs Plus" approach, which evaluates creditworthiness by considering factors such as the character of manager, the capacity of the company, the risk and assets of a loan and the terms of loan agreements.
The investment universe covers government, corporate investment grade and high yield bonds and will focus on three currencies - USD, EUR and GBP.
The research team of Greenbank, Rathbones' ethical, sustainable and impact investment division, led by head of research Kate Elliot, will carry out the independent sustainability screening of securities.
Greenbank will provide the same sustainability framework used by the Rathbone Greenbank Global Sustainability fund and the Rathbone Greenbank multi-asset portfolios.
The fund will sit in the IA Sterling Strategic Bond sector and the S share class OCF will be capped at 0.4%.
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Jones said: "Regulation is leading to a higher cost of capital for ESG laggard companies and carbon intensive industries. Further, stricter disclosure requirements are making evaluation of high yield and emerging market debt opportunities significantly easier in terms of meeting our sustainability criteria.
"We believe adopting this global opportunity set makes sense when we can see diverging core inflationary pressures across the globe."
Tom Carroll, CEO at Rathbones, added: "The Rathbone Greenbank Global Sustainable Bond fund both complements, and provides a different approach to, our existing bond funds. Our award-winning fixed income team has an enviable track record and have, for many years, worked successfully with Greenbank on the Rathbone Ethical Bond fund."
