We are the long-term custodians of our clients’ capital. Our primary purpose is to generate satisfactory returns for them. While looking to achieve this, we have aimed to make a positive difference to the world in which we practise.
We always have done this and describe it as “responsible investing”. There are three foundations to our approach:
Our investment team draws on a deep well of experience to assess the risks and potential long-term rewards of different investments, looking beyond purely short-term financial metrics.
By working closely with our clients, we gain a deep understanding of their priorities, whether their restrictions go further than our own, and how we can invest to meet them.
While assessing the merit of any investment, we also consider each company’s approach to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues.
We engage with the management of companies we invest in. This allows us to voice concerns and monitor progress around ESG issues, and we vote on resolutions at AGMs. We also work with a number of industry bodies which provide channels for collective engagement.
This is an often-overlooked element of an effective approach. Our firm’s culture is a crucial element of responsible investing. Holding ourselves to the same exacting standards as the companies in which we invest supports our credibility.
Examples of sectors we choose to exclude from all client portfolios are tobacco, arms, gambling, and predatory lending.
Ethical principles express an attitude of mind, not a code; their worth lies in changed behaviour, not lip‑service paid to ritual observance
McInroy & Wood - Ethical Principles in Practice, 2004
Most big public companies profess a keen concern to justify “green” credentials. But we urgently require a more coherent means of testing the reality of corporate commitment to the cause. This piece suggests such a means.
When it comes to refreshment of the mind and emotional release, the creative and performing arts play a vital role. Their value is underestimated.
Deprived of audiences and normal sources of income, the arts need financial support. So far the response has been woefully inadequate. Ethically-focused investors can help highlight the need for life-support.
Conflicts of interests have ever nourished the ground of human frailty. But the resulting damage has mounted over recent years. Contrasts can be drawn with standards of probity evident in the early 20th century. Improvement waits upon a keener awareness of the connection between fair conduct, material reward and any self fulfilment.
