In April 2024, Ethos launched the Swiss Responsible Bond Index (SRBI), a sustainability index for bonds denominated in CHF. This index is made up of issuers included in the benchmark Swiss Bond Index AAA-BBB (corporate, city, regional, sovereign or supranational bonds) that have an Ethos ESG rating of at least A+, A- or B+ (on a scale from A+ to C). The aim is to encourage investment in issuers that manage their ESG issues with conviction and whose extra-financial performance is better than that of their peers.

The main characteristics of the SRBI are as follows:

• An issuer's sustainability performance is assessed according to its exposure to ESG risks and the way it manages them. The process for analysing and evaluating companies is different from that for sovereign or regional issuers.

  For corporate issuers, this assessment is carried out in three stages: 

  • analysis of the governance ;
  • analysis of the sustainability strategy (transparency, clarity and consistency of objectives, ambition and management skills) ;
  • the way in which it interacts with its various stakeholders. 

  For 'sovereign' or 'regional' issuers, the assessment takes into account the management of risks, the environmental footprint and social challenges, such as inequality, human rights and decent living conditions, as well as the management of structural risks linked to governance. 

  The result of these analyses is a comprehensive assessment of issuers' policies and management systems (G) in relation to the environmental (E) and social (S) challenges they face;

• The analysis is completed by exclusion criteria. All corporate issuers whose products are incompatible with the values set out in the Ethos Foundation Charter - i.e. those whose sales exceed 5% in the arms, tobacco, gambling, pornography, GMO, nuclear energy or non-conventional fossil fuel sectors - or whose behaviour does not respect the fundamental principles of ethics and sustainable development, are excluded from the SRBI index. 

  Sovereign issuers are also subject to exclusion principles. This occurs when the country's situation and institutional framework are deemed incompatible with the fundamental principles of sustainability. The assessment focuses on three aspects: 

  • international sanctions ;
  • an alarming human rights situation ;
  • non-ratification of key treaties on non-conventional weapons. 

  Finally, in addition to exclusions linked to products and issuer behaviour, instruments identified by SIX as asset-backed securities are also excluded from the SRBI.

The SRBI index is administered by Ethos, which is responsible for determining the ESG ratings and exclusion criteria used, while SIX calculates the index according to market standards.