(Of course, past performance is no guide to future performance, as they say; we need to keep alert to fashionable bias, and choose carefully.) The Bank of Italy values sustainability in its asset allocation.2 Last year, we announced a new investment strategy that integrates ESG profiles into the management of our direct euro-area equity portfolios.
These portfolios total around € billion and include shares in about 140 listed companies. Two ESG criteria have been added to the principles of diversification and market neutrality, which were already embedded in our previous strategy. The first principle is to exclude companies that belong to sectors that do not  1 2  Visco (2019).