Investing responsibly
When putting your money to work via long term investments, we appreciate that you may have non-financial considerations. For instance, you may want to consider the types of companies that stand to benefit from your investment. If you have ethical concerns, you will want an investment manager who understands your views and will factor them into your portfolio accordingly.
We are independent wealth managers and follow the same approach when constructing ethical portfolios as with all of our investment strategies. After assessing the market and economic conditions, we allocate the portfolio according to where we see the best potential, based on your objectives and attitude towards risk.
The difference comes from our investment selection, as we will select only those funds that meet certain ethical criteria. Our research team seeks to identify those that not only are good ethical managers but also have a good performance track record and whose management style is suited to the economic environment.
This may include funds that have positive screening criteria, for instance investing in renewable energy companies that they believe will help make a positive impact on the environment. Some funds will use negative screening criteria, such as avoiding tobacco, alcohol and arms companies.
It may also be possible to reduce risk by including other types of investments, such as bonds, property and alternative assets. We will only do this if they are appropriate for your objectives and ethical views.
We are active and flexible investors. The bank’s commitment to social investment includes significant funding from the Golden Bottle Trust, and as this area develops, we will consider appropriate ways in which our customers can participate.
