Goldman Sachs settles with SEC over not following its own ESG policies

Here’s the intro from this Reuters article:

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday charged Goldman Sachs Asset Management with failing to follow its policies and procedures involving environmental, socially oriented and other investments, and fined the company $4 million. The charges were specifically over “policies and procedures failures involving two mutual funds and one separately managed account strategy marketed as Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investments,” the regulatory agency said in a statement.

Global investors have poured money into ESG-focused funds in recent years as they have paid more attention to issues such as climate change or workforce diversity, although the funds have faced net withdrawals of investor cash so far this year. U.S. and European regulators are just starting to formalize rules for ESG claims and disclosures.

“Goldman Sachs Asset Management, L.P. is pleased to have resolved this matter, which addressed historical policies and procedures related to three of the Goldman Sachs Asset Management Fundamental Equity group’s investment portfolios,” the company said in a separate statement.