Whitechurch Responsible Dynamic Portfolios
SRI Style:
Ethical Style
SDR Labelling:
Not eligible to use label
Product:
DFM/Portfolio
Fund Region:
Global
Fund Asset Type:
Multi Asset
Launch Date:
31/03/2021
Last Amended:
Jul 2021
Dialshifter (
):
Fund Size:
£m
(as at: 30/06/2021)
Total Screened Themed SRI Assets:
£73.00m
Total Responsible Ownership Assets:
£67.90m
Total Assets Under Management:
£369.00m
Sustainable, Responsible
&/or ESG Overview:
Awaiting update from manager - last updated April 2021
The Whitechurch Responsible Dynamic portfolios are designed to offer investors access to a range of multi-asset, risk rated income and growth orientated portfolios which take into account a range of environmental and social issues at a low-cost point using predominantly passive funds.
The portfolios exclude industries and companies deemed to have a negative environmental or social impact whilst investing in funds with high ESG standards. The portfolios are created using predominantly passive funds and ETF’s with up to 30% in active funds.
Primary fund last amended:
Jul 2021
Information directly from fund manager.
Fund Filters
Sustainability - General
Funds that have policies that consider (environmental and social) sustainability issues. Strategies vary but are likely to consider environmental issues like climate change, carbon emissions, biodiversity loss, resource management, environmental impacts; and social issues like equal opportunities, human rights, labour standards, diversity and adherence to internationally recognised codes. See fund information.
Find funds which substantially focus on sustainability issues
Find funds where there is a significant emphasis on (environmental and social) sustainability. Funds with a 'sustainability theme' typically place more emphasis on the area than funds with a 'sustainability policy' - meaning that it is more likely to drive investment selection. Strategies vary. See fund information for further detail.
A core element of these funds aim to encourage higher sustainability standards across business practices through responsible ownership / stewardship / engagement / voting activity
Find funds that use the UN Global Compact to inform or help direct where they can or cannot invest and will typically not invest in companies with significant breaches (low standards) - although strategies vary. (The UNGC covers a wide range of issues - search 'UNGC'). See https://unglobalcompact.org/
Environmental - General
Funds that have policies which relate to environmental issues. These will typically set out the fund's stance on issues such as pollution, climate change, resource management, biodiversity loss, carbon emissions, plastics and/or additional environmental impacts. Strategies vary. See fund information for further information.
Funds that limit or 'reduce' their exposure to carbon intensive industries (ie sectors which are major contributors to climate change. Funds vary - some funds may be 'underweight' in this area which means they may have some investment in highly carbon intensive areas. Funds of this kind may choose companies they consider to be 'best in sector' and encourage ever higher standards. Strategies vary. See fund information for further details.
Funds that aim to invest in companies with strong or market leading environmental policies and practices. Strategies vary - in particular the balance between 'financial' aspects and environmental benefits. Some may invest substantially in solutions or 'positive impact' companies - others may invest in more conventional companies providing certain environmental criteria are met. See fund information for further detail.
Climate Change & Energy
Funds that avoid investing in major coal, oil and/or gas (extraction) companies. Funds vary: some may exclude all companies that extract oil. Others may have exposure to oil extraction via more diversified energy companies. See fund literature to confirm details.
Funds that avoid companies involved in fracking and tar sands - which are widely regarded as controversial methods of oil and gas extraction. Strategies vary. See fund information for further information.
A core element of these funds will aim to encourage the transition to lower carbon activities through responsible ownership / stewardship / engagement / voting activity
Fund funds that have an energy efficiency theme - typically meaning that a fund manager is focused on investing in organisations that manage - or help others to manage - energy use more carefully and less wastefully - and so reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Funds that hold companies in the clean energy and renewable energy sectors (at the time research was supplied). Fund strategies vary, in particular the proportion of investment in these areas may vary significantly. Check fund literature for details.
Social / Employment
Find funds that have policies which set out their approach to social issues (e.g. human rights, labour standards, equal opportunities, child labour and adherence to internationally recognised codes such as the UN Global Compact). Funds with social policies typically avoid companies with low standards or work to encourage higher standards. See fund information for detail.
Find funds that have a labour standards policy - which can be expected to mean that the fund will invest in / favour companies that have higher standards in this area - although fund strategies can vary significantly (as with all policy areas). See eg https://www.ilo.org/international-labour-standards
Ethical Values Led Exclusions
Find funds that have policies that set out their position on ethical or 'personal values' based issues. Strategies vary. See fund information for further detail.
Companies are excluded if they are involved in any aspect of the production chain for tobacco products, including cigarettes, vaping, e-cigarettes, chewing tobacco and cigars.
Find funds that avoid companies that manufacture products intended specifically for military use. Fund strategies vary - particularly with regard to non-strategic military products. See fund literature for fund specific details.
Find funds that avoid investment in companies involved in the production of alcohol. Strategies vary; some funds allow a small proportion of profits to come from this area. See fund literature for further information.
Find funds that avoid companies with significant involvement in the gambling industry. Some funds may allow a small proportion of profits to come from this area. See fund policy for further details.
Find funds that avoid companies that derive significant income from pornography and related areas. Strategies vary. See fund details for further information.
Human Rights
Find funds that have policies relating to human rights issues. Funds of this kind typically require companies to demonstrate higher standards, although some fund managers work to encourage improvements. Investee companies are often judged against internationally agreed norms or standards. Strategies vary. See fund information for further detail.
Governance & Management
Find fund options that have policies that relate to corporate governance issues such as board structure, executive remuneration, bribery and/or corporate corruption. These funds will typically avoid companies with poor practices. Strategies vary. See fund literature for further information.
Find funds that aim to avoid investing in companies with poor governance practices.(e.g. board structure, management practices etc.) Views may however vary on what counts as 'poor' practices - and funds may not immediately divest as they may prefer to work to encourage higher standards. See fund literature for further information.
Find funds that have policies explaining how managers will respond to assets / companies that do not comply with relevant anti-bribery and anti-corruption standards or laws. Strategies vary; options include stewardship/ engagement and divestment - or a combination. See fund literature for further information.
A core element of these funds will aim to encourage higher ESG standards through responsible ownership / stewardship / engagement /voting activity
Fund Governance
Find funds that factor in 'environmental, social and governance' issues as part of their investment decision making process. A focus on 'ESG' typically means a fund is carrying out additional research to help reduce ESG related risks. It does not necessarily mean a focus on sustainability. Strategies vary. See fund literature.
Asset Size
Find a fund that invests in a combination of small, medium and larger (potentially multinational)companies.
Impact Methodologies
Funds that aim to help or support the delivery of positive social or environmental impacts (or societal/real world outcomes) by investing in companies they regard as beneficial to people and / or the planet. Strategies vary. See fund literature for further information.
Find funds that specifically set out to help deliver positive environmental impacts, benefits or 'real world' outcomes.
Find funds that direct investment towards companies where a major part of their business is about solving environmental challenges. e.g. companies helping to address climate change.
How The Fund Works
Find funds that focus on finding and investing in companies with positive / beneficial attributes. This strategy can be applied in addition to exclusion criteria and engagement/stewardship activity.
Find funds where their main 'ethical approach' is to avoid companies by using negative screening criteria. Read fund literature for further information.
Find funds that use an investment index to direct where they can invest. Fund strategies and indices vary. See fund details and index used.
Find funds that make significant use of internationally agreed 'norms' (e.g. United Nations Global Compact - UNGC - or the UN Sustainable Development Goals - SDGs) as part of their investment selection process alongside additional SRI criteria such as positive or negative stock selection policies and/or stewardship strategies.
Find funds that have an ESG strategy (which is typically focused on avoiding companies that pose environmental, social or governance related risks) with additional criteria such as positive and/or negative screens, themes and stewardship strategies.
Find funds that use internationally agreed standards, conventions and 'norms' to help direct where the fund can and cannot invest (e.g. the UN Global Compact, UN Sustainable Development Goals). Read fund literature for further information.
Find funds that have published explanations of their ethical, social and/or environmental policies online (i.e. fund decision making strategies/ buy/sell &/or asset management strategies).
Intended Clients & Product Options
Finds funds designed to meet the needs of individual investors with an interest in sustainability issues.
Find funds that are available via a tax efficient ISA product wrapper.
Only applicable for DFM’s & portfolio providers. Finds those that offer an SRI / ESG portfolio option
Only applicable for DFM’s & portfolio providers. Find service providers who offer multiple SRI / ESG portfolio options
Only applicable for DFM’s & portfolio providers. Find service providers who offer bespoke ('personalised') SRI / ESG portfolio options
Fund Management Company Information
About The Business
Find fund management companies that are smaller or specialise in particular areas - notably, ideally ESG related. Strategies vary.
Collaborations & Affiliations
Find fund management companies that are members of UKSIF - the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance association
Resources
Find fund management companies that makes use of expert external research companies. This can help deliver specialist expertise and means resources are pooled with other investors.
Transparency
Find companies that publish information about their sustainable and responsible investment strategies on their company website.
Sustainable, Responsible &/or ESG Policy:
Whitechurch Responsible Dynamic portfolios use a combination of best-in-class ESG combined with negative screening.
Negative screens ensure investment in companies whose main operations are in contentious industries are avoided. Our PMS Responsible Dynamics range avoids investment in the areas of:
- Tobacco
- Thermal Coal
- Weapons
- Alcohol
- Gambling
- Nuclear Power
- Adult Entertainment
- GMO
- Fossil Fuel (Production & reserves)
Process:
Our investment process starts in the same way for all our portfolios with top-down asset allocation defined by the portfolio risk profile and our current view of the world.
Our fund universe is created through screening and intensive due diligence. The first step is to ensure the fund meets the required exclusions after which we move onto fund manager meetings and further research.
When we are looking at active funds, we look for managers who are able to express the positive impact they are creating (with either a quantifiable metric or through qualitative stock examples) as well as demonstrating a rigorous ESG stock selection process. A fund managers approach to engagement is extremely important from both top-down fund house level and more company specific approach from the fund manager themselves. Again, we look for examples of engagement via case studies and voting record.
The passive funds used all apply a basic negative screen to take out key contentious areas and then screen using ESG metrics to find best in class. Engagement and stewardship is still an important part of the process so we look at engagement and voting at fund house level, using only fund houses with strong records in this space.
Funds are further examined on overall process and investment philosophy, fund house, fund metrics, track record and people.
Once a fund is selected for inclusion it will be allocated to a portfolio in line with our overall asset allocation at the time dependent on the risk profile of the portfolio and the fund itself.
Resources, Affiliations & Corporate Strategies:
Whitechurch have been running ethical portfolios since 2015 and the model portfolios are available both directly and through a range of platforms.
Whitechurch has a 4-person investment team comprising of 3 investment managers and an investment analyst.
We are supported by an in-house operations team and business development team.
Whitechurch are members of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association.
Whitechurch are signatories to the HM Women in Finance Charter.
For further information, please contact us on 01179166150 or dfm@whitechurch.co.uk
We are currently in the process of putting together an in-house committee to address the company’s journey towards net zero, including calculating current carbon footprint and how to start reducing it, improving our in-house diversity. Looking at UN PRI membership.
We are also working on fully integrating ESG across all our portfolios as well as introducing Climate change as a key theme but there is further work to do on this above and beyond our initial steps of introducing climate change / carbon transition funds across the main (non-ethical/ responsible) range of portfolios.
SDR Labelling:
Not eligible to use label
Literature
Fund Name | SRI Style | SDR Labelling | Product | Region | Asset Type | Launch Date | Last Amended |
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Whitechurch Responsible Dynamic Portfolios |
Ethical Style | Not eligible to use label | DFM/Portfolio | Global | Multi Asset | 31/03/2021 | Jul 2021 | |
Total Screened Themed SRI Assets: £73.00m (as at: 30/06/2021) Total Responsible Ownership Assets: £67.90m (as at: 30/06/2021) Total Assets Under Management: £369.00m (as at: 30/06/2021) |
||||||||
Sustainable, Responsible &/or ESG OverviewAwaiting update from manager - last updated April 2021
The Whitechurch Responsible Dynamic portfolios are designed to offer investors access to a range of multi-asset, risk rated income and growth orientated portfolios which take into account a range of environmental and social issues at a low-cost point using predominantly passive funds.
The portfolios exclude industries and companies deemed to have a negative environmental or social impact whilst investing in funds with high ESG standards. The portfolios are created using predominantly passive funds and ETF’s with up to 30% in active funds. |
||||||||
Primary fund last amended: Jul 2021 |
||||||||
Information received directly from Fund Manager |
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Please select what you would like to read:
Fund FiltersSustainability - General
Sustainability policy
Funds that have policies that consider (environmental and social) sustainability issues. Strategies vary but are likely to consider environmental issues like climate change, carbon emissions, biodiversity loss, resource management, environmental impacts; and social issues like equal opportunities, human rights, labour standards, diversity and adherence to internationally recognised codes. See fund information.
Sustainability focus
Find funds which substantially focus on sustainability issues
Sustainability theme or focus
Find funds where there is a significant emphasis on (environmental and social) sustainability. Funds with a 'sustainability theme' typically place more emphasis on the area than funds with a 'sustainability policy' - meaning that it is more likely to drive investment selection. Strategies vary. See fund information for further detail.
Encourage more sustainable practices through stewardship
A core element of these funds aim to encourage higher sustainability standards across business practices through responsible ownership / stewardship / engagement / voting activity
UN Global Compact linked exclusion policy
Find funds that use the UN Global Compact to inform or help direct where they can or cannot invest and will typically not invest in companies with significant breaches (low standards) - although strategies vary. (The UNGC covers a wide range of issues - search 'UNGC'). See https://unglobalcompact.org/ Environmental - General
Environmental policy
Funds that have policies which relate to environmental issues. These will typically set out the fund's stance on issues such as pollution, climate change, resource management, biodiversity loss, carbon emissions, plastics and/or additional environmental impacts. Strategies vary. See fund information for further information.
Limits exposure to carbon intensive industries
Funds that limit or 'reduce' their exposure to carbon intensive industries (ie sectors which are major contributors to climate change. Funds vary - some funds may be 'underweight' in this area which means they may have some investment in highly carbon intensive areas. Funds of this kind may choose companies they consider to be 'best in sector' and encourage ever higher standards. Strategies vary. See fund information for further details.
Favours cleaner, greener companies
Funds that aim to invest in companies with strong or market leading environmental policies and practices. Strategies vary - in particular the balance between 'financial' aspects and environmental benefits. Some may invest substantially in solutions or 'positive impact' companies - others may invest in more conventional companies providing certain environmental criteria are met. See fund information for further detail. Climate Change & Energy
Coal, oil & / or gas majors excluded
Funds that avoid investing in major coal, oil and/or gas (extraction) companies. Funds vary: some may exclude all companies that extract oil. Others may have exposure to oil extraction via more diversified energy companies. See fund literature to confirm details.
Fracking and tar sands excluded
Funds that avoid companies involved in fracking and tar sands - which are widely regarded as controversial methods of oil and gas extraction. Strategies vary. See fund information for further information.
Encourage transition to low carbon through stewardship activity
A core element of these funds will aim to encourage the transition to lower carbon activities through responsible ownership / stewardship / engagement / voting activity
Energy efficiency theme
Fund funds that have an energy efficiency theme - typically meaning that a fund manager is focused on investing in organisations that manage - or help others to manage - energy use more carefully and less wastefully - and so reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Invests in clean energy / renewables
Funds that hold companies in the clean energy and renewable energy sectors (at the time research was supplied). Fund strategies vary, in particular the proportion of investment in these areas may vary significantly. Check fund literature for details. Social / Employment
Social policy
Find funds that have policies which set out their approach to social issues (e.g. human rights, labour standards, equal opportunities, child labour and adherence to internationally recognised codes such as the UN Global Compact). Funds with social policies typically avoid companies with low standards or work to encourage higher standards. See fund information for detail.
Labour standards policy
Find funds that have a labour standards policy - which can be expected to mean that the fund will invest in / favour companies that have higher standards in this area - although fund strategies can vary significantly (as with all policy areas). See eg https://www.ilo.org/international-labour-standards Ethical Values Led Exclusions
Ethical policies
Find funds that have policies that set out their position on ethical or 'personal values' based issues. Strategies vary. See fund information for further detail.
Tobacco and related product manufacturers excluded
Companies are excluded if they are involved in any aspect of the production chain for tobacco products, including cigarettes, vaping, e-cigarettes, chewing tobacco and cigars.
Armaments manufacturers avoided
Find funds that avoid companies that manufacture products intended specifically for military use. Fund strategies vary - particularly with regard to non-strategic military products. See fund literature for fund specific details.
Alcohol production excluded
Find funds that avoid investment in companies involved in the production of alcohol. Strategies vary; some funds allow a small proportion of profits to come from this area. See fund literature for further information.
Gambling avoidance policy
Find funds that avoid companies with significant involvement in the gambling industry. Some funds may allow a small proportion of profits to come from this area. See fund policy for further details.
Pornography avoidance policy
Find funds that avoid companies that derive significant income from pornography and related areas. Strategies vary. See fund details for further information. Human Rights
Human rights policy
Find funds that have policies relating to human rights issues. Funds of this kind typically require companies to demonstrate higher standards, although some fund managers work to encourage improvements. Investee companies are often judged against internationally agreed norms or standards. Strategies vary. See fund information for further detail. Governance & Management
Governance policy
Find fund options that have policies that relate to corporate governance issues such as board structure, executive remuneration, bribery and/or corporate corruption. These funds will typically avoid companies with poor practices. Strategies vary. See fund literature for further information.
Avoids companies with poor governance
Find funds that aim to avoid investing in companies with poor governance practices.(e.g. board structure, management practices etc.) Views may however vary on what counts as 'poor' practices - and funds may not immediately divest as they may prefer to work to encourage higher standards. See fund literature for further information.
Anti-bribery and corruption policy
Find funds that have policies explaining how managers will respond to assets / companies that do not comply with relevant anti-bribery and anti-corruption standards or laws. Strategies vary; options include stewardship/ engagement and divestment - or a combination. See fund literature for further information.
Encourage higher ESG standards through stewardship activity
A core element of these funds will aim to encourage higher ESG standards through responsible ownership / stewardship / engagement /voting activity Fund Governance
ESG integration strategy
Find funds that factor in 'environmental, social and governance' issues as part of their investment decision making process. A focus on 'ESG' typically means a fund is carrying out additional research to help reduce ESG related risks. It does not necessarily mean a focus on sustainability. Strategies vary. See fund literature. Asset Size
Invests in small, mid and large cap companies / assets
Find a fund that invests in a combination of small, medium and larger (potentially multinational)companies. Impact Methodologies
Aims to generate positive impacts (or 'outcomes')
Funds that aim to help or support the delivery of positive social or environmental impacts (or societal/real world outcomes) by investing in companies they regard as beneficial to people and / or the planet. Strategies vary. See fund literature for further information.
Positive environmental impact theme
Find funds that specifically set out to help deliver positive environmental impacts, benefits or 'real world' outcomes.
Invests in environmental solutions companies
Find funds that direct investment towards companies where a major part of their business is about solving environmental challenges. e.g. companies helping to address climate change. How The Fund Works
Positive selection bias
Find funds that focus on finding and investing in companies with positive / beneficial attributes. This strategy can be applied in addition to exclusion criteria and engagement/stewardship activity.
Negative selection bias
Find funds where their main 'ethical approach' is to avoid companies by using negative screening criteria. Read fund literature for further information.
Passive / index driven strategy
Find funds that use an investment index to direct where they can invest. Fund strategies and indices vary. See fund details and index used.
Combines norms based exclusions with other SRI criteria
Find funds that make significant use of internationally agreed 'norms' (e.g. United Nations Global Compact - UNGC - or the UN Sustainable Development Goals - SDGs) as part of their investment selection process alongside additional SRI criteria such as positive or negative stock selection policies and/or stewardship strategies.
Combines ESG strategy with other SRI criteria
Find funds that have an ESG strategy (which is typically focused on avoiding companies that pose environmental, social or governance related risks) with additional criteria such as positive and/or negative screens, themes and stewardship strategies.
Norms focus
Find funds that use internationally agreed standards, conventions and 'norms' to help direct where the fund can and cannot invest (e.g. the UN Global Compact, UN Sustainable Development Goals). Read fund literature for further information.
SRI / ESG / Ethical policies explained on website
Find funds that have published explanations of their ethical, social and/or environmental policies online (i.e. fund decision making strategies/ buy/sell &/or asset management strategies). Intended Clients & Product Options
Intended for investors interested in sustainability
Finds funds designed to meet the needs of individual investors with an interest in sustainability issues.
Available via an ISA (OEIC only)
Find funds that are available via a tax efficient ISA product wrapper.
Portfolio SRI / ESG options available (DFMs)
Only applicable for DFM’s & portfolio providers. Finds those that offer an SRI / ESG portfolio option
Multiple SRI / ESG portfolio options available (DFMs)
Only applicable for DFM’s & portfolio providers. Find service providers who offer multiple SRI / ESG portfolio options
Bespoke SRI / ESG portfolios available (DFMs)
Only applicable for DFM’s & portfolio providers. Find service providers who offer bespoke ('personalised') SRI / ESG portfolio options Fund Management Company InformationAbout The Business
Boutique / specialist fund management company
Find fund management companies that are smaller or specialise in particular areas - notably, ideally ESG related. Strategies vary. Collaborations & Affiliations
UKSIF member
Find fund management companies that are members of UKSIF - the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance association Resources
Use specialist ESG / SRI / sustainability research companies
Find fund management companies that makes use of expert external research companies. This can help deliver specialist expertise and means resources are pooled with other investors. Transparency
Full SRI / responsible ownership policy information on company website
Find companies that publish information about their sustainable and responsible investment strategies on their company website. Sustainable, Responsible &/or ESG Policy:Whitechurch Responsible Dynamic portfolios use a combination of best-in-class ESG combined with negative screening. Negative screens ensure investment in companies whose main operations are in contentious industries are avoided. Our PMS Responsible Dynamics range avoids investment in the areas of:
Process:Our investment process starts in the same way for all our portfolios with top-down asset allocation defined by the portfolio risk profile and our current view of the world.
Our fund universe is created through screening and intensive due diligence. The first step is to ensure the fund meets the required exclusions after which we move onto fund manager meetings and further research. When we are looking at active funds, we look for managers who are able to express the positive impact they are creating (with either a quantifiable metric or through qualitative stock examples) as well as demonstrating a rigorous ESG stock selection process. A fund managers approach to engagement is extremely important from both top-down fund house level and more company specific approach from the fund manager themselves. Again, we look for examples of engagement via case studies and voting record.
The passive funds used all apply a basic negative screen to take out key contentious areas and then screen using ESG metrics to find best in class. Engagement and stewardship is still an important part of the process so we look at engagement and voting at fund house level, using only fund houses with strong records in this space.
Funds are further examined on overall process and investment philosophy, fund house, fund metrics, track record and people.
Once a fund is selected for inclusion it will be allocated to a portfolio in line with our overall asset allocation at the time dependent on the risk profile of the portfolio and the fund itself.
Resources, Affiliations & Corporate Strategies:
Whitechurch have been running ethical portfolios since 2015 and the model portfolios are available both directly and through a range of platforms. Whitechurch has a 4-person investment team comprising of 3 investment managers and an investment analyst. We are supported by an in-house operations team and business development team. Whitechurch are members of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association. Whitechurch are signatories to the HM Women in Finance Charter.
For further information, please contact us on 01179166150 or dfm@whitechurch.co.uk
We are currently in the process of putting together an in-house committee to address the company’s journey towards net zero, including calculating current carbon footprint and how to start reducing it, improving our in-house diversity. Looking at UN PRI membership.
We are also working on fully integrating ESG across all our portfolios as well as introducing Climate change as a key theme but there is further work to do on this above and beyond our initial steps of introducing climate change / carbon transition funds across the main (non-ethical/ responsible) range of portfolios. SDR Labelling:Not eligible to use label Literature |