European asset managers remain the dominant players in a global responsible investment market increasingly defined by “authenticity, consistency and strategic clarity”, according to a worldwide benchmark study. The 2025 Responsible Investment Brand Index (RIBI), now in its seventh year, listed nine European firms in its top ten ranking, with only US-based Nuveen breaking the region’s stranglehold. Brussels-headquartered Degroof Petercam Asset Management achieved the highest overall score, followed by Candriam, owned by New York Life Investments, and Switzerland’s Pictet Asset Management. In this year’s iteration, RIBI evaluated 623 asset managers in total, assessing ‘commitment’ – based on five weighted-average criteria including level and quality of engagement and stewardship – and ‘brand’, derived from eight ‘soft’ factors, such as expression of purpose statements. The index reported that managers from Australia, Canada, Japan and the UK collectively performed, while the US lagged, with China also described as “in a weak position”, despite “considerable progress” since the previous analysis. Report authors Jean-François Hirschel and Markus Kramer said increasing scrutiny of a maturing responsible investment sector had contributed to a divergence between firms which have embedded principles into their “core identity” and those treating it as an overlay. “The former group demonstrates stronger cultural coherence, with purpose statements that connect to societal impact and value systems that reinforce these commitments,” they said. Hirschel and Kramer also warned that the increasingly common approach by global asset managers of marketing themselves differently in Europe and the US was causing confusion for employees and clients. “A consistent core identity around responsible investment can be communicated with appropriate nuance for different markets without compromising fundamental principles,” they suggested.
