Fund EcoMarket – the sustainable, responsible and ethical investment information tool for UK retail financial services intermediaries
Fund EcoMarket aims to be a ‘whole of UK sustainable / responsible /ethical investment market’ tool. It is designed for UK financial services professionals, but open to all.
We aim to list all* relevant regulated funds and services. Our focus is UK domiciled funds such as OEICs (‘Open Ended Investment Companies’) and related Life and Pension subfunds, although we also list many leading FCA regulated and registered offshore funds (eg SICAVs) and portfolios services.
- Please contact us if you would like to add or amend a fund or portfolio service.
The purpose of the database:
1. to enable users to match sustainable, responsible and ethical options that meet individual clients’ needs and preferences.
2. to support fund and portfolio research with in-depth sustainable/ethical policy and strategy information, and links to manager websites.
There are over 200 filter options on Fund EcoMarket. These are displayed in three groups:
- Basic product information such as product type, asset type, region, SDR label status and SRI Style.
- Fund, trust or portfolio characteristics and strategy information such as environmental, social and ethical options, plus options relating to specific areas like banking, sovereigns, positive aims and more.
- Fund management company-wide characteristics and strategy information including resources, commitments made, exclusions, resources and stewardship / engagement activity.
Most filter blocks include both general and specific filter options – as client requests and investment strategies vary. All filters are worded, as far as possible, in jargon free language so that they are easy to discuss with interested clients. There is also additional brief information under help buttons on each filter field – often reminding users that in practice, strategies vary. (Strategies are explained in further detail in the text fields and via links).
User tip: You can also use the ‘Expand filters’ button at the top of the filter options and click ‘Ctrl F’ to search for specific words within the filter options. For example, if you search the word ‘Nature’ you will find three fund related filter options and one that relates to company-wide engagement activity.
Please be aware that we avoid saying whether options are ‘good or bad‘ (ie rating them) – because clients’ needs vary. Instead, our focus is on helping portfolio managers and financial advisers understand strategy differences so that options can be matched to clients’ preferences and needs.
Fund EcoMarket key content and features:
1. A comprehensive ‘whole of sustainable, responsible and ethical investment fund market’ list of (UK) regulated, retail, onshore sustainable, ESG, responsible and ethical funds – with information about sustainable, responsible and ethical investment strategies and processes, links and more.
2. Funds with broadly similar approaches are grouped together under our SRI Styles classifications.
3. SDR support – Fund EcoMarket includes a filter field and text boxes within fund entries to provide information (label, CFD, additional info) about funds that are ‘in scope’ of the UK SDR regime (and make it clear which options are not in scope).
4. Fact finding support. The ‘SRI StyleFinder’ fact find Questionnaire helps users identify their/ their client’s ‘best fit’ of sustainable, responsible or ethical investment style(s). The questionnaire will identify their three ‘best fit’ SRI Styles, which can be used in the ‘SRI Styles’ filter field on the database tool. (See the fact find support.)
5. Search funds by name, asset type and/or region to aid financial and portfolio planning.
6. Search for individual sustainability characteristics and attributes using our additional ‘fund’ and ‘fund management company‘ filters. (These separate what a specific fund does from what an entire asset management company does across all (or almost all) assets.
7. Fund and fund manager sustainability filters. The site has over 250 individual filters which describe what fund managers do, where they aim to invest, what they avoid, their engagement activity and their wider aims. Some of our filters are relatively high level (‘entry level’) to aid conversations, others are very specific – as different people have different preferences.
8. Additional fund and fund manager information, text and links are available via the individual fund ‘More Info’ buttons. This text in these areas is supplied by fund managers and we ask all managers to supply links to relevant areas their company websites. (This information is hosted within ‘primary fund’ entries but also relates to subfunds.)
9. Reporting functions. Users can save or print information and search results for their record keeping and audit trail. These can be produced in short form (fund names only), or long form (including ‘More Info’ text.)
FAQ’s
Where does this information come from? The majority of the information on Fund EcoMarket comes direct from fund managers, who we are in constant contact with, and survey annually. For fund and product managers who do not respond to our requests we put a note in their fund entry, and a link to their site. This information can be printed or saved to pdf for your audit trail. Individual entries also include contact details for product providers. The exception is our SRI Styles area, where we group options by their key strategy similarities for ease of explanation to clients.
How is it free to use? The site is paid for by our partners whose options are listed first, with logos displayed. Other options follow.
Why do we present information in this way? We believe advisers should have access to as comprehensive a range of strategy information as possible – even though some options are uncommon. This is because strategies vary and client needs are diverse.
So, whilst listing every minor strategy variation as a filter option would make our tool unusable, we believe information should offer a comprehensive overview of a product’s strategy and relevant commitments (ie ‘policies’) – because that is how managers run their funds. Analysis of options based on holdings, for example, can be misleading as assets change – which makes offering forward looking assurances impossible. For example, a fund that does not currently hold tobacco companies may or may not have an avoidance policy, so may or may not hold them in future.
Likewise, ratings should be used with care. Their methodologies may or may not match what an individual client wants. For example, if a rating methodology puts greater emphasis on governance than environmental concerns, or takes a particular position on armaments companies – their scores may only be suited to clients who share their views. (The way to deal with this is through transparency. ESG ratings will fall within the regulatory perimeter soon.)
Do we verify the information we publish? We ask companies to only supply information that they can verify and work on the basis that as regulated ,professional entities they should be better placed to know whether or not they undertake a particular activity that we are.
What else is on the site? All parts of our website and fund tool have evolved significantly over the last 15 years, and whilst our focus is the database tool we also offer a range of support intended to help financial advisers, fund selectors and retail fund managers.
In addition to support information and blogs on this website there two additional microsites, designed to help advisers and wealth managers:
- A ‘Find an adviser’ map to help non industry users find financial advisers and wealth managers who regularly work this area.
- A ‘Stylefinder’ questionnaire tool to support fact find by helping you to identify the types (SRI Styles) of options that may suit a given client.
Fund EcoMarket is ‘for information only’. The information we published relates to sustainable, responsible and ethical investment information only – so it is not a complete picture. This means it is incomplete and not intended to be viewed as any form of advice, recommendation or endorsement.
We are not financial advisers and are not authorised to offer financial advice. Everyone is welcome to use the information we provide – however we are not able to deal with individual investors. If you are an individual investor please seek advice from a qualified financial adviser if possible.
Users are recommended to use the links within fund entries to check information on fund manager websites.
If you are an individual investor please contact your Financial Adviser for advice. If you do not have an advisers you may like to use our ‘Find an Adviser‘ list.
Registered Company: SRI Consultants Ltd – 03904843