
BlueOnion and Morningstar Sustainalytics Collaborate to Expand Sustainable Investment and Due Diligence Coverage
With the surge in ESG assets and heightened regulatory scrutiny—such as the recent circular issued by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) on the Sale and Distribution of Sustainable Investment Products, the synergistic interplay between BlueOnion's analytics and Morningstar Sustainalytics' data will enhance the financial sector's efforts in meeting compliance requirements in a transparent and fuss free manner.
Together, the BlueOnion SFDR product and Morningstar Sustainalytics' data expand coverage to 300,000 mutual funds, ETFs, and 93,000 bond funds, offering broader insights for sustainable investing. The platform standardizes sustainability product measurement, aligns with the EU SFDR, and empowers organizations to analyze ESG performance, assess carbon emissions, avoid controversies, and address climate change—all while meeting regulatory and investor expectations with transparency and confidence.
'Proper due diligence is essential for banks to meet regulatory compliance and for asset managers to build portfolios aligned with global sustainability standards. This process depends on robust data, analytics, and clear visualization. BlueOnion's advanced analytics and visualization capabilities, together with our robust data, bridges a gap in the fixed income asset class and the small to mid-cap coverage. As a turnkey solution, it helps our banking and fund clients save time and costs,' said Nick Cheung, Managing Director of Enterprise Products, Greater China, Morningstar.
This collaboration allows clients to seamlessly integrate Morningstar Sustainalytics' data with BlueOnion's existing data and analytics solution on sustainability, offering clients an intuitive solution to tackle challenges in regulatory compliance and sustainability-focused investment strategies.
'We are excited to collaborate with Morningstar to deliver a transformative, turnkey solution that empowers banks and asset managers on their sustainability journey. By combining Morningstar's unparalleled global fund data and analytics expertise with BlueOnion's innovative platform, we provide deeper insights into funds pursuing sustainability integration, transition, and impact through EU taxonomy-related activities. Together, we are elevating industry standards in ESG research, data quality, and transparency, driving meaningful impact and innovation,' said Elsa Pau, Group CEO of BlueOnion.
This collaboration exemplifies BlueOnion and Morningstar Sustainalytics's commitment to supporting financial institutions in combating greenwashing, achieving compliance, and advancing the global ESG agenda. Together, they enable clients to uncover actionable insights and drive meaningful progress in sustainable investing.
Hashtag: #BlueOnion #MorningstarSustainalytics #SustainableFinance #ESG #Compliance #GreenFinance #AssetManagement #InstitutionalInvesting #Innovation
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About BlueOnion
BlueOnion is the end-to-end sustainability analytics platform transforming the financial ecosystem. Banks, asset managers, institutional investors, and companies rely on BlueOnion to assess carbon emissions, analyze ESG performance, conduct climate scenario analysis, and build green portfolios. The platform supports sustainability reporting, climate risk management, and compliance with anti-greenwashing regulations, enabling organizations to meet regulatory, investor, and customer expectations. BlueOnion's intuitive tools and data visualizations empower users to drive meaningful decarbonization, enhance transparency, and achieve their sustainability goals responsibly. To learn more, visit www.blueonion.today.
About Morningstar Sustainalytics
Morningstar Sustainalytics is a leading sustainability data, research, and risk rating service provider. It supports investors in developing responsible investment strategies. With over 30 years of expertise, Sustainalytics helps financial institutions integrate sustainability risk assessments into their investment processes while ensuring compliance with evolving sustainability regulations. Learn more at www.sustainalytics.com.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Advisors Start Cramming to Meet Growing Private Market Demand
Time to hit the books. Private markets have the potential for great returns, and they have historically outperformed public ones. Many advisors steer clear of them, however, partially because of limited knowledge about how they actually work. It's an information gap many will have to address sooner rather than later. Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan believes that allocations to private equity and private credit will make up a third of client portfolios in the near future. 'The vast majority of financial advisors may not go to private markets directly, [but] they will buy products that give them access to public and private markets,' he said during a Q&A at the Morningstar Investment Conference last week. If advisors are to stay competitive in Rowan's vision of the future, many are going to need a private markets crash course. READ ALSO: Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' Is a 'Mixed Bag' for Advisors and Advisor Teams Are Getting Bigger. Here's Why Right now, advisors allocate an average of just 5% of clients' portfolios to alternatives, compared with 25% by institutions, according to Fidelity. Part of the gap is due to limited access, since private markets are typically restricted to accredited investors. But unfamiliarity also plays a big role. Private markets are complicated territory. 'You can't just enter a ticker on a platform and execute transactions,' said Laura Lutton, head of manager research at Morningstar, adding that private market investments often require separate investment platforms and client agreements. 'It creates a structural friction that keeps advisors reluctant to get involved,' she told Advisor Upside. Private markets also come with lower liquidity, less transparency, and complex fee structures — challenges that can be difficult to explain to clients. 'It sounds simple, but it's really not,' Lutton said. Morningstar is working to make those conversations easier by expanding its Medalist Rating framework later this year to include semiliquid funds, offering more transparency and helping identify strategies likely to outperform certain benchmarks. While, private markets may seem daunting, but advisors don't have to go it alone: One way advisors can become more familiar with private equity and private credit is through sponsors themselves. Major firms like BlackRock, KKR, iCapital and more offer CE credits through alternative investing courses. The CFA Institute also offers multiple courses and certifications on private markets. Do Your Homework. Some advisors are taking the independent study approach, like Alex Caswell of Wealth Script Advisors, who's been reading books and scholarly articles published in the CFA Institute's Financial Analysts Journal to understand whether the investments would be right for his clients. So far, he's not sold on them, especially private credit. 'PC has swallowed up a lot of the fast-and-loose loan and debt origination that was done by banks pre-2008,' he told Advisor Upside. 'Now, these PC funds are being shoved into portfolios left and right, and it comes with a lot of unevaluated risks that people aren't realizing.' This post first appeared on The Daily Upside. To receive financial advisor news, market insights, and practice management essentials, subscribe to our free Advisor Upside newsletter.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Fixed Income ETF Assets Hit Record $2T
What do fixed income ETFs have in common with the Department of Government Efficiency? The answer, given away by the headline above, is $2 trillion. Not only is that the amount the Elon Musk-convened group (hoped to) cut from the federal budget, but it's also the size of the US fixed income exchange-traded fund market. On a fun note, 2 trillion is also the most recent estimate of the number of galaxies in the observable universe. The US fixed income ETF business reached that milestone in June, following a flood of assets into products this year. '$2 trillion is pretty noteworthy,' said Matthew Bartolini, head of Americas ETF research at State Street Investment Management. 'It's not being fueled by one single factor — there are multiple drivers.' READ ALSO: Are Gambling ETFs Worth the Bet? and Crypto ETFs Are Diversifying. Can Demand Keep Up? With $186 billion flowing into fixed income ETFs in the first half of 2025, the products got 34% of the total ETF sales, Bartolini noted. 'That is double what their market share would indicate.' Fixed income ETFs also saw record sales in June, taking in $18 billion, with only one subcategory, long-term government bond ETFs, seeing net outflows, he said. The most obvious factor in recent demand for fixed income ETFs is yield, said Daniel Sotiroff, senior analyst on the passive strategies team at Morningstar. Compared with the yields in the 2010s, when interest rates were near zero, the 4% or 5% yields today are a big improvement, he noted. 'The yield on my savings account is pretty dismal,' he added. 'That makes even something like a Treasury bill ETF more attractive.' Other contributors to growth overall are advisors outsourcing investment decisions via model portfolios and asset-allocation products, as well as an increased appetite for income, he said. 'We used to talk about dividend ETFs six or seven years ago … but increasingly, that conversation is going toward fixed income funds.' According to Morningstar Direct data, these are the fastest-growing fixed income ETFs this year through May: By net sales, the iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF led the way, taking in $17 billion, followed by the SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month Treasury Bill ETF, at $7 billion, and Schwab Mortgage-Backed Securities ETF, at $5 billion. But by organic growth, or net flows as a proportion of total assets, the biggest seller was the Schwab Mortgage-Backed Securities ETF, at over 10,000% growth, followed by the T. Rowe Price QM US Bond ETF, at 1,200%, and JPMorgan BetaBuilders US Treasury Bond 1-3 Year ETF, at 930%. Actively Recruiting: Active management is also behind much of the recent demand and product development. Almost all of Vanguard's fund launches over the past couple of years have been fixed income ETFs, many of which are active, Sotiroff noted. That firm filed this week for the Vanguard High Yield Fixed Income ETF, following recent launches in that category by Capital Group and JPMorgan. Unlike with equities, fixed income has been an area where a significant number of shops have been able to outperform, Sotiroff said. 'It is an area where active managers can actually add some value,' he added. This post first appeared on The Daily Upside. To receive exclusive news and analysis of the rapidly evolving ETF landscape, built for advisors and capital allocators, subscribe to our free ETF Upside newsletter.


CNBC
2 days ago
- CNBC
S&P 500 hits new highs—here's how much $1,000 invested 20 years ago is worth today
Earlier this spring, investors were bracing for the worst. President Donald Trump unveiled a new regime of stiff tariffs that market watchers feared could reignite inflation and start a trade war with the potential to choke the global economy. The S&P 500, a measure of the broad U.S. stock market, plummeted by 19% between late February and early April. But stocks have since come back, and then some — the index now sits almost 2% above its previous all-time high in February. Where do stocks go from here? Over the short-term, no one knows. But because the U.S. stock market has historically trended upwards — making new highs after every major pullback — financial pros often suggest investing in a diversified portfolio early and often. For the best way to do that, consider Berkshire Hathaway chairman and investing legend Warren Buffett's oft-repeated advice for everyday investors. "Consistently buy an S&P 500 low-cost index fund," he told CNBC's On The Money in 2017. "I think it's the thing that makes the most sense practically all of the time." Buffett is famous for his stock-picking prowess, but his advice to own index funds lies in the fact that most people — even professional investors — have a hard time picking winners consistently. Take active mutual fund managers, who buy and sell stocks with the goal of delivering market-beating returns to their investors. In the decade that ended in 2024, just 7% of such managers benchmarked to large U.S. stock indexes (like the S&P 500) beat their average passive peer, according to Morningstar. Those peers are exactly the kinds of funds Buffett recommends. Passive funds, or index funds, seek to replicate the performance of a market index rather than trying to beat it. And because these funds don't have high-priced managers pulling the strings, they can afford to charge rock-bottom annual management fees. Here's what $1,000 invested in an S&P 500 index fund in recent years would be worth today. Total returns, including reinvested dividends, are through July 1. Have certain individual stocks or portfolios delivered higher returns over those periods? Certainly. But many more haven't. By investing to earn returns alongside the market, rather than trying to beat it, Buffett and others have said, you give yourself a leg up on even the savviest Wall Street pros. "By periodically investing in an index fund, for example, the know-nothing investor can actually outperform most investment professionals," Buffett wrote in his 1993 letter to Berkshire shareholders. "Paradoxically, when 'dumb' money acknowledges its limitations, it ceases to be dumb."