Bank of America Merrill Lynch is expanding its roster of ESG portfolios while seeking to enhance advisor and client knowledge on the impact of these.

Merrill Lynch is to provide its financial advisor force with new resources to help clients understand the impact of their investments in ESG portfolios.

The firm has also added sustainable multi-asset class portfolios - comprised of mutual funds and ETFs - to Merrill Lynch One, its platform of impact portfolios.

Merrill Lynch's investment management and guidance team will provide advisors with detailed reports featuring ESG metrics and ratings provided by MSCI, as well as comparisons with traditional portfolio benchmarks.

"The reports are designed to help advisors better assess whether the investments meet clients’ impact investing goals," the firm said.

The move comes amid a stronger industry focus on measuring the effectiveness of, and education around, impact investments - at the advisor and client level.

In this case, for example, Merrill Lynch will give additional information about the ESG characteristics of the sustainable impact multi-asset class portfolios and their constituent funds.