US Regulator Fines Goldman Sachs $4 Million for ESG Failures

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Goldman Sachs Asset Management, L.P. (GSAM) for policies and procedures failures involving two mutual funds and one separately managed account strategy marketed as Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investments. To settle the charges, GSAM agreed to pay a $4 million penalty.

The SEC's order finds that, from April 2017 until February 2020, GSAM had several policies and procedures failures involving the ESG research its investment teams used to select and monitor securities. From April 2017 until June 2018, the company failed to have any written policies and procedures for ESG research in one product, and once policies and procedures were established, it failed to follow them consistently prior to February 2020.

"In response to investor demand, advisers like Goldman Sachs Asset Management are increasingly branding and marketing their funds and strategies as 'ESG,'" said Sanjay Wadhwa, Deputy Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement and head of its Climate and ESG Task Force. "When they do, they must establish reasonable policies and procedures governing how the ESG factors will be evaluated as part of the investment process, and then follow those policies and procedures, to avoid providing investors with information about these products that differs from their practices."

"Today's action reinforces that investment advisers must develop and adhere to their policies and procedures over their investment processes, including ESG research, to ensure investors receive the advisory services they would expect to receive from an ESG investment," said Andrew Dean, Co-Chief of the Enforcement Division's Asset Management Unit.