Green finance: an asset manager will pay 40.000 euros to avoid proceedings before the AMF

Primonial Reim has concluded an administrative composition agreement with the market policeman, a simplified procedure which makes it possible to avoid referring the matter to the AMF sanctions commission in exchange for several "commitments", in particular the payment of a sum to the Treasury audience.

The asset manager specializing in real estate notably manages a fund which has obtained the French Social and Responsible Investment (SRI) label, the largest in Europe.

In the prospectus of this fund, the company assured that it would only purchase buildings “if their rating with regard to the ESG evaluation grid” of environmental, social and governance criteria, “developed by Primonial Reim (.. .) exceeds a threshold note".

However, for a building, the company "did not ensure the traceability of the ESG scores" and therefore "the justification for the allocation of this property to this fund is not sufficiently motivated by convincing elements" according to the agreement.

Another building was included in the fund even though “it was not eligible”, details the report.

Primonial recognizes that its investment process "would have benefited from being more formalized and documented during the period under control", but also that "its internal procedures and operating methods have already evolved significantly since then".

The AMF Sanctions Committee has never been seized of a case concerning regulatory breaches on sustainability aspects and no administrative composition agreement had been concluded for these reasons.

On June 19, more than twenty members of civil society and personalities wrote to the AMF to ask it to “take firm measures” in order to fight more effectively against eco-laundering in sustainable funds. The authors particularly regretted “the absence of sanctions”.