Topic: Socially Responsible Investment

The 6th Annual SRI Benchmarking Study - September 2006

The study was commissioned by the Australian Ethical Investment Association. Findings include:

• Managed SRI portfolios grew by 56% during the 2006 financial year from $7.67 billion to $11.98 billion. In comparison, mainstream managed portfolios grew 15.5% in that same period
• The fastest growing established fund manager for the year was AMP Capital Investors whose SRI assets under management grew from $439m to $1.55 billion. 
•  In the 6 years from 2000 through 2006 SRI managed portfolios have now grown from $325m to $11.98 billion, an increase of 3,587%.
• The New Zealand Superannuation has joined the Australian Ethical investment Association in 2006 - approximately $10.1 billion in managed funds. The fund is expected to reach $120 billion by 2025 making it one of the largest funds in Australasia. In line with the Fund’s governing legislation, a SRI policy has been developed. The fund is a founding signatory of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment - currently over $4 Trillion of international funds now endorse these Principles. The Fund has also appointed International Shareholder Services (ISS) to co-ordinate, research and exercise its international voting rights and assist them in the development of a corporate governance standard for New Zealand.

The United Nations 'Principles for Responsible Investment' - April 2006

The heads of leading institutions from 16 countries, representing more than $2 trillion in assets owned, officially signed the Principles at a special launch event at the New York Stock Exchange. The Principles were developed during a nearly year-long process convened by the UN Secretary-General and coordinated by the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and the UN Global Compact. "These Principles grew out of the understanding that while finance fuels the global economy, investment decision-making does not sufficiently reflect environmental, social and corporate governance considerations – or put another way, the tenets of sustainable development," the Secretary-General said.

• Ethical Investment Table
• Other helpful sites

Ethical Investment Table

The following table provides contact details for some of the ethical investment options: 

Source:  Money Matters,  www.moneymatters.co.nz.

In creating an ethical investment or socially responsible investment portfolio options range from community based investments to local and international share funds.

Community based initiates have been an important part of the New Zealand ethical investment scene for many years.  An early pioneer was Prometheus that began its operations in 1983 providing deposit and borrowing services.  It lends to people and projects that make a positive contribution to society by incorporating social and environmental responsibility, sustainability and sound business practices.  Other community based ethical investment organisations include the Just Dollar$ Trust and the Quaker Investments Ethical Trust.

In 2002 Asteron (formerly Royal SunAlliance) launched New Zealand’s first Socially Responsible Investment Trust investing primarily in New Zealand listed companies.  The fund utilises Guardian Trust Funds Management and the research services of Rodger Spiller & Associates, the first New Zealand based firm to offer ethical investment research services.  Companies in the fund are profiled and engaged with using the Ethical and Sustainable Development Performance Scorecard developed through Spiller’s research.  The Scorecard reflects international and local ethical investor and stakeholder views about best practices.

New Zealanders can access international ethical investment portfolios through local fund mangers with international ethical funds such as AMP and Tower. Several Australian based ethical investment managers now offer their funds in New Zealand.  These include ethical balanced funds, Australian and/or international equity funds from Australian Ethical Investment, Challenger, Hunter Hall International, Perpetual and Sagitta Rothschild.  New Zealanders can also access listed international ethical equity funds.

Some financial planners offer ethical investment planning and advice.  For example, Money Matters (Ph: 09 366 1672 e-mail info@moneymatters.co.nz) helps clients most reliably achieve their goals by creating, implementing and monitoring plans.   Ethical investors can do well by doing good and achieve a triple bottom line of environmental, social and financial wealth creation.

Other helpful sites

www.eia.org.au

www.ftse.com

www.socialfunds.com

Last Updated: 9 October 2007