Fund Name SRI Style Product Region Asset Type Launch Date
Aviva CT UK Social Bond Pn Socially Focused Pension UK Fixed Interest 02/10/14

Objectives

Fund Size: £3.30m

As at: 31/03/22

ISIN: GB00BNQ4FB29

Sustainable, Responsible &/or ESG Overview

This Pension product is linked to the "CT UK Social Bond"  fund. The following information refers to the primary (OIEC) fund.

 

Launched in December 2013, in partnership with Big Issue Invest, the UK Social Bond Fund was the first mainstream investment Fund that set out to achieve both an investment return and a positive social outcome by investing in bonds issued by organisations that support social and economic development in the UK.

 

The Fund has generated strong performance for investors and has also fulfilled its promise of delivering positive social outcomes, bringing investment to some of the UK's most deprived sectors and regions. The Fund's investments have supported the likes of Charities Aid Foundation in enhancing their work with donors and charities, Cardiff University in helping fund an innovation campus and Manchester University in supporting the development of a new Cancer Research Centre.

 

As outlined above, our approach is positive inclusion rather than negative exclusion; as described in further detail below, in practice this means the avoidance of certain sectors (e.g. tobacco), and we also operate a hard exclusion on controversial weapons, applying across all our funds.

.

Please note: BMO GAM (EMEA) became part of Columbia Threadneedle Investments, the global asset management business of Ameriprise, on 8th November 2021. From 4th July 2022 the ‘Threadneedle’-named fund ranges of Columbia Threadneedle will transition to the CT prefix, providing consistency with the rebranding of BMO funds.

Primary fund last amended: 11/05/23 10:26

Information received directly from Fund Manager

Please select what you would like to read:
  • Fund Filters

    Sustainability

    Environmental policy

    Sustainability policy

    Limits exposure to carbon intensive industries

    Sustainable transport policy or theme

    Sustainability theme or focus

    Favours cleaner, greener companies

    UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) focus

    Climate Change & Energy

    Nuclear exclusion policy

    Coal, oil & / or gas majors excluded

    Climate change / greenhouse gas emissions policy

    Invests in clean energy / renewables

    Fracking and tar sands excluded

    Clean / renewable energy theme or focus

    Arctic drilling exclusion

    Fossil fuel reserves exclusion

    Targeted Positive Investments

    Invests >25% of fund in environmental/social solutions companies

    Invests >50% of fund in environmental/social solutions companies

    Invests > 5% in green bonds

    Human Rights

    Human rights policy

    Child labour exclusion

    Responsible supply chain policy or theme

    Social / Employment

    Social policy

    Health & wellbeing policies or theme

    Favours companies with strong social policies

    Meeting Peoples' Basic Needs

    Invests > 5% in social bonds

    Invests > 5% in social housing

    Ethical Values Led Exclusions

    Tobacco production avoided

    Armaments manufacturers avoided

    Alcohol production excluded

    Gambling avoidance policy

    Pornography avoidance policy

    Gilts / government bonds - exclude some

    Governance & Management

    Governance policy

    Anti-bribery and corruption policy

    Avoids companies with poor governance

    Fund Governance

    Employ external (fund) oversight or advisory committee

    Asset Size & Metrics

    Over 50% small / mid cap companies

    Invests in small, mid and large cap companies

    How The Fund Works

    Balances company 'pros and cons' / best in sector

    Strictly screened ethical fund

    Limited / few ethical exclusions*

    Positive selection bias

    Negative selection bias

    Norms focus

    Combines norms based exclusions with other SRI criteria

    Combines ESG strategy with other SRI criteria

    SRI / ESG / Ethical policies explained on website

    Assets mapped to SDGs

    Impact Methodologies

    Aims to generate positive impacts (or 'outcomes')

    Measures positive impacts

    Positive environmental impact theme

    Positive social impact theme

    Invests in environmental solutions companies

    Invests in social solutions companies

    Invests in sustainability / ESG disruptors

    Described as an ‘impact investment fund’

    Labels & Accreditations

    RSMR rated (OEIC funds only)

    Eurosif Transparency

    Intended Clients & Product Options

    Faith friendly

    Available via an ISA (OEIC only)

    Fund management company information

    About The Business

    ESG / SRI engagement (AFM company wide)

    Responsible ownership / stewardship policy (AFM company wide)

    Responsible ownership policy for non SRI funds (AFM company wide)

    Responsible ownership / ESG a key differentiator (AFM company wide)

    Vote all* shares at AGMs / EGMs (AFM company wide)

    Diversity, equality & inclusion engagement policy (AFM company wide)

    Integrates ESG factors into all / most fund research

    SDG aligned aims / objectives (AFM company wide)

    Resources

    In-house responsible ownership / voting expertise

    Employ specialist ESG / SRI / sustainability researchers

    Use specialist ESG / SRI / sustainability research companies

    Collaborations & Affiliations

    PRI signatory

    UKSIF member

    UN Net Zero Asset Owners / Managers Alliance member

    Accreditations

    UK Stewardship Code signatory (AFM company wide)

    Engagement Approach

    Regularly lead collaborative ESG initiatives (AFM company wide)

    Encourage responsible corporate taxation (AFM company wide)

    Company Wide Exclusions

    Review(ing)carbon / fossil fuel exposure for all funds (AFM company wide)

    Controversial weapons avoidance policy (AFM company wide)

    Climate & Net Zero Transition

    Encourage carbon / greenhouse gas reduction (AFM company wide)

    In-house carbon / GHG reduction policy (AFM company wide)

    Transparency

    Publish full voting record (AFM company wide)

    Publish responsible ownership / stewardship report (AFM company wide)

    Full SRI policy information on company website

  • Sustainable, Responsible &/or ESG Policy:

    We manage the Fund in partnership with Big Issue Invest, our external social advisory partner. The Fund aims to deliver both financial and social performance and as such we have a thematic focus on social issues. These issues are defined by our social assessment methodology; produced by Big Issue Invest in collaboration with our firm, this includes seven specific social themes and one theme which encompasses environmental elements.

    The eight outcome areas comprise:

    • Housing and Property
    • Transport and Communication Infrastructure
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Health and Social Care
    • Education Learning and Skills
    • Community Services
    • Employment and Training
    • Utilities and the Environment

    The Fund takes a positive inclusion, rather than a negative exclusion, approach. For an investment to qualify for the Fund, we need to find a clear link between the issuer and one of the eight social outcome areas (including a ‘utilities and the environment’ outcome, which can have a specific environmental element, in recognition of the importance of sustainable infrastructure and energy in creating the right conditions for societal development). The social case needs to be made in the initial research phase, and further confirmed by the Social Advisory Committee (see further under resources and affiliations below).

     

    One consequence of this is that investment in issuers with a negative social impact is out of scope. A clear example of this is with the tobacco industry which not only does not align with one of our outcome areas but also clashes with the health and social care outcome. Other areas which we do not see as aligning with positive social outcomes, along similar lines, are companies whose primary business relates to alcohol production, weapons manufactures, gambling or pornography. Hence, although there is no specific exclusionary screen for these types of companies, the Fund has never had any exposure to them, nor do we expect this to be the case.

     

    One area of hard exclusion, however, relates to controversial weapons. This has been in place for all our strategies since 2011 and recognises our support for widely ratified treaties prohibiting their production (see page 3 of our RI policy attached, or via the link https://www.columbiathreadneedle.co.uk/investment-capabilities/governance-and-responsible-investment).

     

    ESG performance is assessed for each issuer as part of our social review. This is not the core driver of the review, but can contribute to a social rating change (e.g. from Medium to Low), or even suggest that an investment may not qualify for the Fund if it undermines our confidence that an issuer is aligned with a social outcome, is overly exposed to social risk, or might materially compromise the reputation of the Fund. As such our ESG analysis is risk focused, and centres on governance and social issues.

     

    Engagement is core to the Fund’s philosophy. Part of Big Issue Invest’s mandate to Columbia Threadneedle Investments was for the Fund to help establish a market for charities and non-profit organisations to raise finance themselves through issuing bonds. In addition, they were keen to promote the reestablishment of the local authority sector of the market. In some cases, this required an educational process about issuing their own bonds, which can potentially reduce cost of funding and diversify the investor base.

     

    As part of this mission, there has been a lot of work undertaken behind the scenes in order to try to establish a leadership role in developing the market. Some tangible successes of this policy have been the establishment of the Retail Charity Bonds Platform and the subsequent issues of charity bonds. Additionally, committee work has taken place to extend the Green Bond Principles from environmental to social outcomes, as well as the publication of the Guidance for Issuers of Social Bonds in June 2016, together with the first issue to conform to these policies, from BNG, a Dutch agency bank for social housing.

  • Process

  • Resources, Affiliations & Corporate Strategies

    External partner

    “A hand up, not a hand out,” was the ethos which inspired the launch of the Big Issue Foundation in 1991, a trailblazing organisation which kick-started the philosophy of offering business-led solutions to social problems.

     

    More than two decades on, Columbia Threadneedle Investments partnered with Big Issue Invest, the social investment arm of The Big Issue magazine, in 2013 to bring this concept to life with the Threadneedle UK Social Bond Fund. We brought together the simple but powerful principles of achieving positive social outcomes while generating a financial return for investors.

     

    Big Issue Invest (BII) developed a unique Social Assessment Methodology for the Fund, with input from Columbia Threadneedle Investments’ Responsible Investment team. The Methodology provides ‘filters’ for portfolio investment decisions that identify the “social performance” of investments and channels the Fund’s capital to organisations whose activities produce clearly identifiable social outcomes and help create a more balanced and inclusive UK economy.

     

    Big Issue Invest also acts as Social Advisor to the Fund, via the Fund’s independent Social Advisory Committee. All reviews are circulated to our Social Advisory Committee, comprised of an independent Chair as well as BII members, and two of our representatives. The role of the SAC is to advise, review and challenge individual bond social assessments (and therefore the overall social performance of the Fund) and to support further development of the methodology.

     

    Research resources

    Research is undertaken in-house by our Responsible Investment team, regarding the social assessment, whilst financial analysis is undertaken by our Investment Grade team.

     

    We draw on a number of sources in making our assessment: Prospectus and roadshow material, ESG research (MSCI ESG Research being a main data provider, broker research, and engagement in some cases. Other inputs specific to the nature of the Fund include UK-based indices of deprivation (e.g. the Multiple Deprivation Index), and theme specific sources: such as Ofsted reports and HESA (Higher Education Statistics Agency) data for the education theme.

     

    Fund manager

    Simon Bond manages the Threadneedle UK Social Bond Fund, as well as a newly launched European Social Bond Fund (May 2017).  Previously Simon managed a wide range of retail, institutional and wholesale credit bond funds at Columbia Threadneedle, but undertook a specific Responsible Investment Portfolio Management position in 2016. Simon has taken a keen interest in the social investment space, having analysed and invested in this space for many years.

     

    Process and Roles

    In applying the methodology, first, the fund manager, Simon Bond, proactively identifies bonds that deliver positive outcomes across eight fields of social development, alongside liquidity and yield characteristics.

     

    Second, individual bonds are reviewed by the Responsible Investment (RI) team across five dimensions to assess their overall “social intensity”. These are: the degree to which the bond will deliver positive primary and secondary social outcomes; the geographical focus on deprived areas (with an aim to have 80% of outcomes domestically focused); the level of social development; the nature of financing; and an ESG assessment of the issuer.

     

    All reviews are circulated to our Social Advisory Committee, who review and challenge individual bond social assessments. Further discussion of key issues takes place at the Committee’s quarterly meetings.

     

    Each year the Social Advisory Committee, which meets each quarter, hold a forward looking meeting. The aim is to identify any new social developments, or potential enhancements to our review process. In so doing, rather than seeking to forecast out on a 3-5 year basis, we aim to be alive to the most relevant, current and emerging issues.

     

    General corporate affiliations

    We were a founding member of the UN PRI and remain actively involved in the organisation. In our last assessment from the PRI we received an A+ (the highest rating) for our overall approach to responsible investment, a score that has been maintained for the last four years.

     

    Other key memberships are those of: the United Kingdom Sustainable Investments and Finance Association (UKSIF), the European Sustainable Investment Forum (EUROSIF), the UK’s Investment Association, the UK’s Investor Forum, the UK Taskforce on Growing a Culture of Social Impact Investing and the Global Impact Investing Network.  These memberships reflect our commitment to RI and impact investing across a range of markets, reflecting the geographic diversity of our investments.

     

    Our Chief Investment Officer sits on the board of the Investor Forum, which seeks to contribute to long-term investment performance by promoting cultural change and enhancing shareholder stewardship in the UK. Similarly, we are also an active member of the UK Corporate Governance Forum, an investor network made up of asset managers and owners to discuss individual companies, industry and ESG developments, UKSIF, the Investment Association and the Investor Forum, and are signatories to the UK Stewardship Code.

     

    We are also signatories to the CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project), including their forestry and water programmes.

     

    We are in the process of reviewing carbon / fossil fuel exposure for all funds and have SDG aligned aims/objectives for certain funds.

Fund Name DS SRI Style Product Region Asset Type Launch Date
Aviva CT UK Social Bond Pn Socially Focused Pension UK Fixed Interest

Fund Size: £3.30

Total screened & themed / SRI assets: £

Total Responsible Ownership assets: £

Total assets under management: £

As at: 31/03/22

Sustainable, Responsible &/or ESG Policy:

We manage the Fund in partnership with Big Issue Invest, our external social advisory partner. The Fund aims to deliver both financial and social performance and as such we have a thematic focus on social issues. These issues are defined by our social assessment methodology; produced by Big Issue Invest in collaboration with our firm, this includes seven specific social themes and one theme which encompasses environmental elements.

The eight outcome areas comprise:

  • Housing and Property
  • Transport and Communication Infrastructure
  • Financial Inclusion
  • Health and Social Care
  • Education Learning and Skills
  • Community Services
  • Employment and Training
  • Utilities and the Environment

The Fund takes a positive inclusion, rather than a negative exclusion, approach. For an investment to qualify for the Fund, we need to find a clear link between the issuer and one of the eight social outcome areas (including a ‘utilities and the environment’ outcome, which can have a specific environmental element, in recognition of the importance of sustainable infrastructure and energy in creating the right conditions for societal development). The social case needs to be made in the initial research phase, and further confirmed by the Social Advisory Committee (see further under resources and affiliations below).

 

One consequence of this is that investment in issuers with a negative social impact is out of scope. A clear example of this is with the tobacco industry which not only does not align with one of our outcome areas but also clashes with the health and social care outcome. Other areas which we do not see as aligning with positive social outcomes, along similar lines, are companies whose primary business relates to alcohol production, weapons manufactures, gambling or pornography. Hence, although there is no specific exclusionary screen for these types of companies, the Fund has never had any exposure to them, nor do we expect this to be the case.

 

One area of hard exclusion, however, relates to controversial weapons. This has been in place for all our strategies since 2011 and recognises our support for widely ratified treaties prohibiting their production (see page 3 of our RI policy attached, or via the link https://www.columbiathreadneedle.co.uk/investment-capabilities/governance-and-responsible-investment).

 

ESG performance is assessed for each issuer as part of our social review. This is not the core driver of the review, but can contribute to a social rating change (e.g. from Medium to Low), or even suggest that an investment may not qualify for the Fund if it undermines our confidence that an issuer is aligned with a social outcome, is overly exposed to social risk, or might materially compromise the reputation of the Fund. As such our ESG analysis is risk focused, and centres on governance and social issues.

 

Engagement is core to the Fund’s philosophy. Part of Big Issue Invest’s mandate to Columbia Threadneedle Investments was for the Fund to help establish a market for charities and non-profit organisations to raise finance themselves through issuing bonds. In addition, they were keen to promote the reestablishment of the local authority sector of the market. In some cases, this required an educational process about issuing their own bonds, which can potentially reduce cost of funding and diversify the investor base.

 

As part of this mission, there has been a lot of work undertaken behind the scenes in order to try to establish a leadership role in developing the market. Some tangible successes of this policy have been the establishment of the Retail Charity Bonds Platform and the subsequent issues of charity bonds. Additionally, committee work has taken place to extend the Green Bond Principles from environmental to social outcomes, as well as the publication of the Guidance for Issuers of Social Bonds in June 2016, together with the first issue to conform to these policies, from BNG, a Dutch agency bank for social housing.

Sustainable, Responsible &/or ESG Process:

Resources, Affiliations & Corporate Strategies

External partner

“A hand up, not a hand out,” was the ethos which inspired the launch of the Big Issue Foundation in 1991, a trailblazing organisation which kick-started the philosophy of offering business-led solutions to social problems.

 

More than two decades on, Columbia Threadneedle Investments partnered with Big Issue Invest, the social investment arm of The Big Issue magazine, in 2013 to bring this concept to life with the Threadneedle UK Social Bond Fund. We brought together the simple but powerful principles of achieving positive social outcomes while generating a financial return for investors.

 

Big Issue Invest (BII) developed a unique Social Assessment Methodology for the Fund, with input from Columbia Threadneedle Investments’ Responsible Investment team. The Methodology provides ‘filters’ for portfolio investment decisions that identify the “social performance” of investments and channels the Fund’s capital to organisations whose activities produce clearly identifiable social outcomes and help create a more balanced and inclusive UK economy.

 

Big Issue Invest also acts as Social Advisor to the Fund, via the Fund’s independent Social Advisory Committee. All reviews are circulated to our Social Advisory Committee, comprised of an independent Chair as well as BII members, and two of our representatives. The role of the SAC is to advise, review and challenge individual bond social assessments (and therefore the overall social performance of the Fund) and to support further development of the methodology.

 

Research resources

Research is undertaken in-house by our Responsible Investment team, regarding the social assessment, whilst financial analysis is undertaken by our Investment Grade team.

 

We draw on a number of sources in making our assessment: Prospectus and roadshow material, ESG research (MSCI ESG Research being a main data provider, broker research, and engagement in some cases. Other inputs specific to the nature of the Fund include UK-based indices of deprivation (e.g. the Multiple Deprivation Index), and theme specific sources: such as Ofsted reports and HESA (Higher Education Statistics Agency) data for the education theme.

 

Fund manager

Simon Bond manages the Threadneedle UK Social Bond Fund, as well as a newly launched European Social Bond Fund (May 2017).  Previously Simon managed a wide range of retail, institutional and wholesale credit bond funds at Columbia Threadneedle, but undertook a specific Responsible Investment Portfolio Management position in 2016. Simon has taken a keen interest in the social investment space, having analysed and invested in this space for many years.

 

Process and Roles

In applying the methodology, first, the fund manager, Simon Bond, proactively identifies bonds that deliver positive outcomes across eight fields of social development, alongside liquidity and yield characteristics.

 

Second, individual bonds are reviewed by the Responsible Investment (RI) team across five dimensions to assess their overall “social intensity”. These are: the degree to which the bond will deliver positive primary and secondary social outcomes; the geographical focus on deprived areas (with an aim to have 80% of outcomes domestically focused); the level of social development; the nature of financing; and an ESG assessment of the issuer.

 

All reviews are circulated to our Social Advisory Committee, who review and challenge individual bond social assessments. Further discussion of key issues takes place at the Committee’s quarterly meetings.

 

Each year the Social Advisory Committee, which meets each quarter, hold a forward looking meeting. The aim is to identify any new social developments, or potential enhancements to our review process. In so doing, rather than seeking to forecast out on a 3-5 year basis, we aim to be alive to the most relevant, current and emerging issues.

 

General corporate affiliations

We were a founding member of the UN PRI and remain actively involved in the organisation. In our last assessment from the PRI we received an A+ (the highest rating) for our overall approach to responsible investment, a score that has been maintained for the last four years.

 

Other key memberships are those of: the United Kingdom Sustainable Investments and Finance Association (UKSIF), the European Sustainable Investment Forum (EUROSIF), the UK’s Investment Association, the UK’s Investor Forum, the UK Taskforce on Growing a Culture of Social Impact Investing and the Global Impact Investing Network.  These memberships reflect our commitment to RI and impact investing across a range of markets, reflecting the geographic diversity of our investments.

 

Our Chief Investment Officer sits on the board of the Investor Forum, which seeks to contribute to long-term investment performance by promoting cultural change and enhancing shareholder stewardship in the UK. Similarly, we are also an active member of the UK Corporate Governance Forum, an investor network made up of asset managers and owners to discuss individual companies, industry and ESG developments, UKSIF, the Investment Association and the Investor Forum, and are signatories to the UK Stewardship Code.

 

We are also signatories to the CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project), including their forestry and water programmes.

 

We are in the process of reviewing carbon / fossil fuel exposure for all funds and have SDG aligned aims/objectives for certain funds.

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