Kevin Bourne will assume the role of Managing Director of the newly structured ESG Service Unit. This Unit will comprise the existing Responsible Investment team headed by David Harris, who also acts as Vice-Chairman of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance association (UKSIF), as well as a new ESG Analytics team to be headed by Gordon Morrison.

Previously Kevin and Gordon were the founders of LCE Risk, an innovative ESG Quant and Research firm which pioneered the development of quantitative tools to measure and model the global economic transition to a low carbon economy. Prior to LCE Risk, both Kevin & Gordon held senior equities roles at HSBC. Kevin was the Global Head of Electronic Trading and Gordon was the Global Head of Client Analytics. Whilst at HSBC Kevin instigated and led the HSBC Climate Change Index initiative.

Today's announced appointments build significant capacity and analytical depth. Mark Makepeace, Chief Executive, FTSE Group, comments: "We are delighted to have both Kevin and Gordon on board. They bring extensive expertise on ESG analytics and economic impact modelling. I am very proud with what David and the Responsible Investment team have achieved and these appointments will allow us to more effectively support clients looking to integrate ESG into their investment decisions, and to manage the transition to a lower carbon economy."

The investment into growing a dedicated ESG team and the establishment of a broader Service Unit is a direct response to the increasing demand FTSE is seeing from the global investment community for integrated ESG services that can deliver products to help clients measure and model the impact of these key corporate issues.