Financial advisors are warming up to ESG investing, Jordan Farris, head of ETF Product Development at Nuveen, said at the Inside ETFs conference.
Farris said in 2019, Nuveen saw three times the flows into ESG ETFs than in 2018, a significant uptick in advisors using their products. Part of the reason for that, he said, is because ESG ETFs now have that three-year track record of performance that many advisors look at before using them.
"That proves to them that these products can be run effectively," Farris said, adding that the returns of Nuveen's funds disprove the myth that ESG equals underperformance.
Moving forward, he said Nuveen has plans to expand its ESG products into other asset classes, specifically adding onto the firm's two fixed income products that already exist.
"Women and millennials are particularly interested in incorporating their personal values into their investments, and as more of the assets in the country flow to the millennial generation, I think we'll see increased opportunities in this space," he said.
