Gummer launches SRI investment
John Gummer, the former Conservative
secretary of state for the environment, has launched an ethical and
environmental fund management operation.
The full launch of Stotebrand Principle
Funds today coincides with the new requirement for pension funds to include any
socially responsible investment (SRI) criteria in their statement of investment
principles.
Speaking to PW, Gummer said he
believed SRI issues were vital to investment decisions and company
performance.
He said he believed pension funds were
positive about the issue, but asked what he thought about the City's reaction
to SRI he described it as slow.
They need to look at SRI from a
financial point of view. I think they've been slow to recognise a very
significant downside of the companies that do not take this thing
seriously."
Storebrand is a link-up between
Storebrand, a leading Norwegian investment and insurance group, and Sancroft, a
British environmental consultancy.
Storebrand offers both standard funds
and tailor made products Funds are constructed from tracker portfolios that
reflect the Morgan' Stanley Capital International index, but a portion is also
actively managed for better returns.
Both the tracker and active elements
are comprised of companies that are financially attractive and progressive on
environmental and ethical issues.
"I've been interested in SRI for a long
time. For many years I've been saying that unless we change our investment
strategies we would not get the environment that we want," said Gummer.
He pointed out the SIP regulation
change was a bipartisan policy that he supported.
"I'm pleased it should be like this in
Britain and we're leading the world in this element. It's also a sensible
business policy."
By Nick
Fitzpatrick, Pensions Week
3 July, 2000
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