Mary Jane McQuillen has been described as a rock star in the world of socially responsible investing. The New York City-based fund manager heads up the ESG (environmental, social and governance) division of Clearbridge Advisors, which was recently appointed to sub-advise the Meritas U.S. Equity Fund. McQuillen was in Victoria this week, speaking at the […]
Transitioning your practice to SRI can be a painless process, according to one advisor who made the move successfully. Gail Taylor of Gail Taylor and Associates at CIBC Wood Gundy in Edmonton has a $100 million SRI book and more than 100 clients. Speaking at the Canadian Responsible Investment Conference in Victoria this week, Taylor […]
Socially responsible assets in Canada dropped roughly 8%, to $531 billion as of June 30, 2010, compared with $579 billion in 2008, according to the biennial SRI review, released today by the Social Investment Organization. However, SRI still represents about one-fifth of total Canadian assets under management, about the same level as 2008. “SRI has […]
AGF Investments has called special investor meetings to seek approval for mergers between the core AGF funds and overlapping Acuity funds. AGF sealed the Acuity purchase in February, and there was some speculation that the SRI-focused Acuity might disappear within the larger firm. So far, that does not seem to be the case. “The majority […]
A participatory speaker series around impact investing, aptly named Eye4Impact, kicked off on March 29 in Montreal. The initiative is backed by TBC Capital Inc., a Montreal-based financial services firm with a mandate to provide investment strategies and solutions with a focus on impact investments. The inaugural edition of the series featured Russell Read, former […]
A new phenomenon has been emerging in the space of socially responsible investment. It’s the integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) information into investment processes. The growing interest in ESG information within the mainstream investment community has meant various ESG factors are entering the vocabulary of mainstream financial analysts and fund managers. ESG investing […]
Mercer has announced an expansion in its global responsible investment consulting business, naming Richard Fuller and Ryan Pollice to the team. Dr. Fuller will be based in Melbourne, Australia, overseeing the firm’s client relationships in Sydney and Melbourne and intellectual capital development across the Asia Pacific region. He joins Mercer from HESTA Super Fund, where […]
Finally there is an asset class where philanthropy and desire for capital gains can cohabit without qualms or a clash. Known as impact investing, it is a growing phenomenon which requires the management of social and environmental performance alongside financial risks and returns. A participatory speaker series known as Eye4Impact kick starts March 29 in […]
Most investors are interested in one thing: returns. Right? Wrong, says Betty-Anne Howard, a Certified Financial Planner with the Making Dreams a Reality Financial Services in Kingston. Despite the turmoil of the last few years, Howard says investors are now interested in how those returns are generated. And that means investing in socially responsible investment (SRI) funds.
There has long existed a gap between philanthropy and any singular devotion to capital gains. But this uncharted space is fast being filled by the growing phenomenon of impact investing. At its heart, impact investing is a simple concept: mobilizing private capital for public good. It operates on the basic premise of solving social and […]