With its latest product, DWS emphasizes the social aspect of ESG: On January 17, 2022, the house launched a sustainably investing equity fund that focuses on female aspects.
Sustainable and social
The DWS Invest ESG Women for Women invests worldwide in companies that attach importance to environmental protection, good corporate governance and fair treatment of their employees. The factors of equal rights and opportunities, gender balance at management level, work-life balance and flexibility of the working environment are also included in the analysis.
All-female fund management
In addition, the new fund is managed exclusively by women and its focus is intended to specifically address the needs of women when selecting their investments. To select companies that perform well in terms of social values and fair working conditions, the 12-strong team of female fund managers led by Katharina Seiler, Valerie Schüler and Lilian Haag uses DWS's Social Commitment Score. This evaluates companies with a view to various social factors. "The shortlist for the fund includes both companies that are leaders in the "Social Commitment Score" and companies where the fund management perceives particularly great progress," says Katharina Seiler.
In addition, the companies undergo a classic fundamental analysis with a focus on the business model, management, growth and valuation. The fund managers of DWS Invest ESG Women for Women also focus on long-term investment trends such as digitalization, education, renewable energies, infrastructure, health, research and connectivity.
Social factors important for corporate success
With its focus on social factors, the new DWS fund addresses a topic that is increasingly coming to the fore when it comes to investing - not least as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic. "Social aspects are an increasingly important success factor for companies. They can have a positive effect on the productivity and profits of companies, which should also be reflected in a positive performance on the stock market in the long term," explains fund manager Valerie Schüler, pointing to history: over a five-year period, U.S. companies from the S&P 500 Index that are well positioned in terms of the "S factor" have performed better than the broad market.
DWS wants to pave the way for more women to enter the stock market
"With DWS Invest ESG Women for Women, we want to motivate women to take charge of their wealth accumulation - also in view of the looming pension gap in old age," says Lilian Haag. In contrast to men, women still have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to the capital market, explains the fund manager. Although around 80 percent of women already save regularly, only one in eight invests their money in the stock market.
Anke Dembowski is a financial journalist and author of various investment fund-related and other financial books. She is also a co-founder of the "Fondsfrauen" network.