UK/SWEDEN – Edinburgh-based asset management group, Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP), has launched a new socially responsible investments fund, the SWIP Pan-European SRI equity fund, specifically targeting the Swedish institutional market.

A spokeswoman for the fund says it is modelled on AP7, the seventh Swedish national pension fund, which has built a reputation for its ethical approach to investment. Stockholm-based ethical investment research specialists, Caring Company Etikanalytikerna is to carry out the screening process for Scottish Widows.

“The AP-7 is very successful in its SRI strategy and they were very willing to allow us to structure our new SRI fund on theirs. There has been huge demand for SRI products in the Nordic region recently and the launch of the new fund in Sweden is in response to that,” says the spokeswoman.

The new fund is a sub-fund within SWIP’s UK-domiciled open-ended investment company (OEIC), which is already registered in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. SWIP intends to register the OEIC in Spain and Switzerland soon.

The new fund complements SWIP’s existing UK SRI operation but the spokeswoman confirms there are no plans to introduce other SRI products elsewhere in Europe at present.

SWIP, part of the Lloyds TSB group, has some €131bn under management.