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Make Good Work of Your Money:
Socially Responsible Investing (SRI)
Many people take their savings
to their bank without giving it a second thought. The bank
seeks out the most lucrative way to invest your money and
then neatly dishes out the interest. Did we say neatly? Do
you know what actually happens to your money? In which companies
exactly does your bank invest your savings? What are their
attitude to human beings and the environment?
An increasing number of people realise that they can achieve
more with their investment than just financial reward. They
want to invest their money in companies that act in a socially
responsible manner and contribute to sustainable development.
Today's investors take this criterion into consideration when
deciding on an investment scheme.
“My money is only my money when I know what's going
to happen to it.” With this slogan, sustainable saving
and investing made its entry into Belgium some twenty years
ago. It began with just a few savings schemes but this quickly
expanded. Nowadays a sustainable investor can choose from
a varied range of socially
responsible investment funds.
The special feature of socially responsible investment funds
is that investment is not only judged by its financial prospects
but by an extensive set of criteria based on sustainable
entrepreneurship. This approach of total risk analysis
creates room for estimating the social and human risks of
company policy. After all, a company does not operate in a
vacuum but is constantly interacting with the social and ecological
environment. The way in which a company shapes its relationship
with the environment has a direct impact on the ecological
and human return, which would subsequently influence economic
return. For this reason, an increasing number of analysts
are interested in these aspects of company policy.
Banks and investment companies can call on ETHIBEL for advice
to set up such socially responsible investment funds. Company
research, which forms the evidence of those funds carrying
the ETHIBEL quality label,
is designed to support this overall view of sustainable entrepreneurship.
A socially responsible or 'sustainable’ investment, or
investing in sustainable enterprises, does not stand in the
way of a good return. Socially responsible schemes have an
equally good or even better return than "traditional"
investment products. This should come as no surprise. Sustainable
entrepreneurship means having a long-term vision and the effective
management to support it.
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