the sustainable, responsible and ethical investment information hub
May 27th, 2022
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 […]
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 […]
March 18th, 2022
A big thank you to our friends at Investment Life and Pensions Moneyfacts for publishing – and putting on the front cover – my latest piece on sustainable investment. You can download a pdf of the text here: 16-17 Purpose, Positioning and Priorities The text – as submitted – is below. Sent to Investment […]
March 14th, 2022
Ukraine tragedy highlights need for intermediaries to understand sustainable fund strategies [see summary version published in Investment Week 15 March 2022] SRI Services has surveyed the managers of sustainable responsible and ethical investment funds to ask whether they hold – or held – direct investments in Russian companies. The purpose of this research was to […]
January 17th, 2022
Below is a list of the top 50 filter options selected by Fund EcoMarket users during the course of 2021. This shows that, as in previous years, a wide range of filters are used by Fund EcoMarket users, most probably as that is what is required in order to offer advice on sustainable investment […]
August 23rd, 2021
My thanks, once again, to Investment Life and Pensions Moneyfacts magazine for publishing my article on ‘the future of (sustainable) investment.’ The article is a roundup of the important regulatory developments that are emerging in this area – as well as the need for urgency in switching all investments onto a sustainable footing. The piece […]
February 15th, 2021
This month’s Investment Life and Pensions Moneyfacts magazine has kindly published an article I have writen for them regarding the FCA’s proposed Sustainable Investment Principles which were first aired at our conference last year. You can download the article here: ILP Moneyfacts February 2021 Climate of Change As discussed in the article the principles remain […]
February 10th, 2021
A big thank you to Intelligent Partnership for sending me a lovely, smart version of the brief ‘Thought Leadership’ piece I wrote for them last month. The brief article highlights the relevance of financial services intermediaries considering sustainable investment when discussing estate planning with clients. You can download my article here: SRI thought leadership article […]
March 27th, 2020
This has undoubtedly been a memorable (and pretty miserable) week, month and indeed quarter. My first thoughts, when the horrible seriousness of Coronovirus started to become clear, may however have been a little different from some in that they were not entirely negative… Aside from the fears about relatives – my mother-in-law is recently bereaved, […]
December 6th, 2019
I am delighted to announce that our event videos are now live on the SRI Services YouTube channel. Each session was recorded – so for anyone who was unable to attend this is the next best thing. (nb The event was CPD accredited so you may like to keep a record of the sessions your […]
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 […]
April 18th, 2019
A growing number of funds are now marketed as being ‘sustainability themed’ or having sustainability related themes (often in addition to ethical, ESG or other SRI strategies). These funds employ many different strategies, methods and ‘lines of thought’. For most, sustainability is demonstrably central to their investment proposition (via various policies, themes and research criteria). […]
April 14th, 2019
After working out that recording ‘live’ videos is not in fact a walk in the park… I am delighted to say that we now have three brand new introductory SRI training videos on YouTube. Before you click through can I please ask you to help us by clicking ‘Follow’ when you go on to the SRI Services […]
February 21st, 2019
SRI Services was delighted to have had the opportunity to respond to the ESMA Consultation Paper ‘On Integrating sustainability risks and factors into MIFID II’ earlier this week (even though it did seem a bit strange doing so given Brexit…) In brief, the paper (European Securities and Markets Authority – ESMA35-43-1210) proposes ESG/Sustainability related fact […]
March 15th, 2018
The FCA issued a discussion paper today on ‘Transforming Culture in Financial Services’ – DP18/2. I have written and spoken on this topic many times – as I too believe that retail financial services would benefit from a cultural shift. My concern is that the financial services system as it stands is not particularly conducive to recognising the importance […]
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 […]