Yep its all about green, green backs and green investing; socially responsible investing. Which I blogged about yesterday and has apparently come to the attention of the Toronto Stars investment columnist in her column in todays paper.
I reccomend reading it for the links included. It is well rounded and a good follow up on the Motely Fool article I linked to in my previous post.
Socially responsible investing has come of age on Bay St."We've seen a real sea change in Canada, just in the last year or so," says Eugene Ellmen, executive director of the Social Investment Organization.
And like its counterparts in the US socially responsible investment funds in Canada have made money.
Jantzi Research is the main sponsor of the Jantzi Social Index, which is modelled on the S&P/TSX 60 index. It consists of 60 companies that pass a set of broadly based social and environmental screens.The Jantzi Social Index has outperformed the Canadian indexes that are not screened.From its inception in January 2000 to the end of April 2006, the Jantzi Social Index has an annualized return of 7.91 per cent. That compares to a 6.97 per cent return for the S&P/TSX 60 index in the same period and a 7.75 per cent return for the S&P/TSX composite index.
And guess who does not like Socially Responsible investment funds, why the Banks of course! Who of course are the epitome of gouge and screw business practices.
Applying ethical screens used to be frowned on by the financial community. If you removed companies from your investment universe because you disapproved of what they did, you were sure to get lower returns.Canada's major banks still think that way. None offer socially responsible investment portfolios, either for individual or institutional investors.
In total, SRI assets represented about 3.6 per cent of the Canadian mutual fund and institutional investment market."The relatively small number of firms offering SRI services is surprising to those of us who work in the SRI industry," the Social Investment Organization said in its report."Numerous surveys suggest that a majority of Canadians are interested in socially responsible mutual funds, want their pension funds to invest in responsible companies and believe that financial advisers should incorporate social and environmental considerations into investments."Yet only about one in five financial services firms in Canada offer SRI products or services."
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