Fund EcoMarket
the sustainable, responsible and ethical investment information hub
the sustainable, responsible and ethical investment information hub
May 23rd, 2022
…and has now been rightly suspended by HSBC. There is so much to say on this story, but let me start by saying I have no desire to ‘bash’ HSBC. Big banks are imperfect and have, in my view, propped up the fossil fuel industry for far too long – but that is not what […]
March 31st, 2022
A similar version of the following text was first published in our March 2022 newsletter. FCA Disclosures and labels (DLAG) – my involvement with the FCA, on their Disclosures and Labelling Advisory Group is proving both interesting and tough. We have had many meetings and the level of engagement has been impressive – but […]
January 17th, 2022
I am delighted to share our response to the FCAs recent ‘Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) and investment labels‘ discussion paper. Our response was rather lengthy, so you may prefer to focus on the summary of key points below (the text below is ‘as submitted’): Download our response here: FCA SDR DP 21 4 SRI Services […]
December 15th, 2021
Net Zero is rapidly becoming part of business as usual in UK financial services
November 4th, 2021
I am delighted to report that I have been appointed to the FCA’s new ‘Disclosure and Labels Advisory Group’. The ‘Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) and investment labels’ paper that this relates to was published on 3 November 2021, can be found on the FCA website here, starting with the following text: “We are seeking initial […]
October 21st, 2021
This brief blog is to help you bookmark this important document which maps out much of what we can expect to see in the broad sustainable investment arena over the next few years: We are delighted at the growing level of attention being paid to sustainable investment by the UK Government in the run up […]
September 18th, 2021
We are delighted to invite you to sign up to our annual event which is being held in two parts this year: an all day Zoom conference on 6 October, and an informal London drinks reception on 13 October. Sign up links for both events are below. 6 October all day event 10 […]
July 19th, 2021
SRI Services welcomes new FCA ESG and Sustainable Investment Principles
July 12th, 2021
[Please see my more recent ‘Principles’ blog as the FCA Sustainable Investment Principles are now live.] As you will know, the focus on ‘ESG’ (environmental, social and governance) has ramped up dramatically recently right through the investment value chain. News is now emerging almost daily from all quarters – from the public facing NGOs (notably […]
March 25th, 2021
During UKSIF’s excellent ‘Ownership Day’ event today I was delighted to hear from their keynote speaker Mark Manning of the FCA, that the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has formally written to Nikhil Rathi, Chief Executive of the FCA, with notification that the government now requires climate change to form part of the regulator’s […]
November 26th, 2020
On 21 October 2020 Richard Monks – Director of Strategy at the FCA – kindly gave the keynote speech at our annual ‘SRI Services and Partners Good Money Week event’. There is a transcript of his speech available on the FCA website here. We were delighted with the content of the speech and welcome the […]
October 28th, 2020
I am delighted to report that we have just loaded the videos from our first ever online ‘SRI Services and Partners’ online Good Money Week event onto our YouTube channel. The sessions are listed in chronological order on a play list – here. 288 financial advisers and others attended on the day and the feedback […]
September 2nd, 2020
SRI Services and Partners annual ‘Good Money Week’ ‘virtual’ event – 21 October 2020 I am delighted to announce that the FCA’s Director of Strategy, Richard Monks, has agreed to give the keynote address as this year’s SRI Services and Partners Good Money Week event. Sign up to the ‘SRI Services and Partners’ 21 October […]
June 19th, 2020
Introduction The EU has a raft of consultations ongoing aimed at driving investment to be more focused on sustainability. I am yet to give these the time they deserve, but to help you keep up to date here are some thoughts and links you may like to digest… Although their work on sustainable finance has […]
November 13th, 2019
Recent media coverage, generated in part in response to a recent report by SCM*, indicates that greenwash fears are growing apace. This is of course a huge shame as when we talk about funds that focus on environmental, social and ethical issues we would all much rather be talking about their benefits relative to their […]
October 18th, 2019
FCA statement on climate change and green finance
March 22nd, 2019
Source: FCA website 12 March 2019 First meeting of the PRA and FCA’s joint Climate Financial Risk Forum Press Releases Published: 12/03/2019 Last updated: 12/03/2019 On Friday 8 March, the PRA and FCA hosted the first meeting of the Climate Financial Risk Forum (CFRF). The objective of the CFRF is to build capacity and share best practice across financial […]
January 16th, 2019
As mentioned in my blog in October last year the FCA is consulting on climate change and green finance. SRI Services plans to respond to this important paper – both by welcoming it and by responding to those questions that fall within our area of expertise. DP18/8: Climate change and green finance DEADLINE – 31 JANUARY […]
September 30th, 2018
I am not close enough to say whether or not the specifics of this article are correct, yet none of it really surprises me… The financial services community has a reputation for audacity and struggles to earn trust. Reading this article makes the risks associated with the SRI market ‘going mainstream’ very clear. The piece […]
July 20th, 2018
I am running rather late with blogs at the moment as there is so much happening – but felt it important to flag the news that the FCA is looking into the area of ESG/SRI in Q1 2019 – as part of their response to the Law Commission’s review of Pensions and Social Investment. None […]
June 27th, 2017
We are delighted to welcome the Law Commission review of ‘Pensions & Social Investment’ published June 2017. This important review, whilst not fully digested yet, appears to support and even advance the view that social, as well as other related ethical and environmental considerations should form part of our pensions investment landscape and decision making. You can […]
London Climate Week event on 28 & 29 June I happily agreed to become involved with a major London Climate Week event run by Reset Connect some time ago. The event is now only two weeks away. I did so mostly because I am always keen to help and encourage intermediaries to learn about climate issues […]
Earlier this week I set out my initial response to HSBC’s head of Responsible Investment – Stuart Kirk’s – extraordinary presentation on climate risk (see blog linked below). In the interest of understanding different points of view – here is a collection of articles and opinions about his speech that we believe are relevant to […]
…and has now been rightly suspended by HSBC. There is so much to say on this story, but let me start by saying I have no desire to ‘bash’ HSBC. Big banks are imperfect and have, in my view, propped up the fossil fuel industry for far too long – but that is not what […]