The OWW Responsibility Malaysia SRI Index is the first in the OWW Responsibility SRI Index Series which will initially cover Malaysia and Singapore and in future other South-East Asian economies.
The index opens up the Malaysian market to Socially Responsible Investors for the first time, by providing an assessment of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) performance of Malaysian companies based on international standards, customized to the Malaysian context.
The index is accompanied by OWW Responsibility CSR Reports which cover company performance across the following areas:
- Workplace : Management, Governance and Employment Practices
- Marketplace : Stakeholder Engagement
- Environment : Environmental performance and reporting
- Community : Charity and Community contributions
Malaysia and Singapore offer exceptional investment opportunities. Currently both markets are in a confirmed "early bull" trend. Experienced analysts are predicting upside potential of above 30% in the coming two years in both markets. This will bring historical highs in each market in line with recent performance in Europe and the US .
These opportunities have so far been out of the reach of Socially Responsible Investors because credible, consistent and comprehensive assessments of the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance of Malaysian companies have not been available.
The OWW ResponsibilityTM assessment process aims to help the global SRI community to access up to date and reliable information on the environmental, social and governance performance of companies in Malaysia and Singapore to provide opportunities for diversification of fund portfolios outside of Europe and the US .
The OWW ResponsibilityTM Malaysia SRI Index provides the ideal basis for the creation of investment products such as Malaysia specific SRI Funds, which will be a natural compliment to the already well developed Islamic Ethical Products, in which Malaysia is a world leader.
It is hoped that the OWW ResponsibilityTM Malaysia SRI Index will also be useful in raising the general profile of CSR and SRI amongst Malaysian companies.
For regional investors the information provided by the OWW ResponsibilityTM Assessment process should act as a catalyst to encourage Socially Responsible Investment in Malaysia and Singapore .
This fills an important gap highlighted by regional investment managers who are keen to offer Socially Responsible Products to institutional and private clients.
Future indices in the series will cover small cap companies and Government Linked Companies (GLCs).
