tmmonline.nz  |   landlords.co.nz        About Good Returns  |  Advertise  |  Contact Us  |  Terms & Conditions  |  RSS Feeds

NZ's Financial Adviser News Centre

GR Logo
Last Article Uploaded: Thursday, March 28th, 10:13PM

News

rss
Latest Headlines

Calls for more responsible investment practices

Oxfam New Zealand has launched a research paper outlining ways in which investment practices can help address ways to reduce world poverty and support development initiatives.

Tuesday, August 2nd 2011, 10:52AM

by Ruth Le Pla

Speaking at the 2011 Responsible Investment Briefing in Auckland, executive director Barry Coates said some parking metres earn about as much in an hour as 70% of the world's population each earn in a day.

"Some 1.4 billion people live in extreme poverty", he said, "and the tragic thing is that things are not getting any better. They're getting worse in many ways. This is due to multiple crises of food and water, climate change and the global financial crisis.

"There are 50,000 people dying every day of poverty-related causes. This is an issue that we have to make sure is included in an integrated approach to responsible investment."

The Oxfam research paper -- ‘Better returns for a better world. Responsible investment: overcoming the barriers and seeing the returns' -- identifies three major structural barriers that prevent poverty reduction and development issues being more fully integrated into investment practices.

These barriers are: a lack of demand from, and oversight by, asset owners; short-termism; and a general lack of transparency in the investment industry.

Coates told delegates at the briefing that the report draws on feedback from a series of workshops for investment and development experts in Europe and the US.

These workshops covered topics as diverse as access to medicines, the arms trade, food security, access to water, and transparency, bribery and corruption.

To stimulate demand and improve transparency, the report recommends that:

·        All institutional investors develop, implement and report on their responsible investment strategies, with a particular focus on how they will address poverty and development issues within their overall approaches to responsible investment.

·        Asset owners explicitly demand and reward investment managers who take particularly proactive approaches to responsible investment.

Coates told delegates that the report recommends governments introduce regulations that require pension funds and other asset owners not only to have a policy on responsible investment but also to publish details of how they intend to implement it.

The report also suggests governments report regularly on the resulting social, environmental and financial outcomes.

Coates said governments should make responsible investment an integral part of how they run the financial assets that they control.

The study makes further sets of recommendations around analytical tools for both institutional investors and governments.

Coates said the world's food and agriculture problems are of "Malthusian proportions".

"We live in a world where around 1 billion people go hungry while a similar number of people are obese."

"We were well on the way to reducing hunger in the world but we've had some reversals. If the trends from the mid-1990s had continued we'd be looking at about 400 million fewer hungry people in the world today.

"But what we see is an era of high food prices, land grabs, speculation in food commodities and an increasing crisis of declining yields in many agricultural crops with climate change impacts yet to be factored in to the future."

« News Round Up: August 1KiwiSaver mismatch a 'huge challenge' for advisers »

Special Offers

Commenting is closed

 

print

Printable version  

print

Email to a friend
News Bites
Latest Comments
Subscribe Now

Weekly Wrap

Previous News
Most Commented On
Mortgage Rates Table

Full Rates Table | Compare Rates

Lender Flt 1yr 2yr 3yr
AIA - Back My Build 6.19 - - -
AIA - Go Home Loans 8.74 7.24 6.79 6.65
ANZ 8.64 7.84 7.39 7.25
ANZ Blueprint to Build 7.39 - - -
ANZ Good Energy - - - 1.00
ANZ Special - 7.24 6.79 6.65
ASB Bank 8.64 7.24 6.79 6.65
ASB Better Homes Top Up - - - 1.00
Avanti Finance 9.15 - - -
Basecorp Finance 9.60 - - -
Bluestone 9.24 - - -
Lender Flt 1yr 2yr 3yr
BNZ - Classic - 7.24 6.79 6.65
BNZ - Green Home Loan top-ups - - - 1.00
BNZ - Mortgage One 8.69 - - -
BNZ - Rapid Repay 8.69 - - -
BNZ - Std, FlyBuys 8.69 7.84 7.39 7.25
BNZ - TotalMoney 8.69 - - -
CFML Loans 9.45 - - -
China Construction Bank - 7.09 6.75 6.49
China Construction Bank Special - - - -
Co-operative Bank - First Home Special - 7.04 - -
Co-operative Bank - Owner Occ 8.40 7.24 6.79 6.65
Lender Flt 1yr 2yr 3yr
Co-operative Bank - Standard 8.40 7.74 7.29 7.15
Credit Union Auckland 7.70 - - -
First Credit Union Special - 7.45 7.35 -
First Credit Union Standard 8.50 7.99 7.85 -
Heartland Bank - Online 7.99 6.69 6.45 6.19
Heartland Bank - Reverse Mortgage - - - -
Heretaunga Building Society 8.90 7.60 7.40 -
HSBC Premier 8.59 - - -
HSBC Premier LVR > 80% - - - -
HSBC Special - - - -
ICBC 7.85 7.05 6.75 6.59
Lender Flt 1yr 2yr 3yr
Kainga Ora 8.64 7.79 7.39 7.25
Kainga Ora - First Home Buyer Special - - - -
Kiwibank 8.50 8.25 7.79 7.55
Kiwibank - Offset 8.50 - - -
Kiwibank Special - 7.25 6.79 6.65
Liberty 8.59 8.69 8.79 8.94
Nelson Building Society 9.00 7.75 7.35 -
Pepper Money Advantage 10.49 - - -
Pepper Money Easy 8.69 - - -
Pepper Money Essential 8.29 - - -
Resimac - LVR < 80% 8.84 ▼8.09 ▼7.59 ▼7.29
Lender Flt 1yr 2yr 3yr
Resimac - LVR < 90% 9.84 ▼9.09 ▼8.59 ▼8.29
Resimac - Specialist Clear (Alt Doc) - - 8.99 -
Resimac - Specialist Clear (Full Doc) - - 9.49 -
SBS Bank 8.74 7.84 7.45 7.25
SBS Bank Special - 7.24 6.85 6.65
SBS Construction lending for FHB - - - -
SBS FirstHome Combo 6.19 6.74 - -
SBS FirstHome Combo - - - -
SBS Unwind reverse equity 9.95 - - -
Select Home Loans 9.24 - - -
TSB Bank 9.44 8.04 7.55 7.45
Lender Flt 1yr 2yr 3yr
TSB Special 8.64 7.24 6.75 6.65
Unity 8.64 6.99 6.79 -
Unity First Home Buyer special - - 6.45 -
Wairarapa Building Society 8.60 6.95 6.85 -
Westpac 8.64 7.89 7.49 7.25
Westpac Choices Everyday 8.74 - - -
Westpac Offset 8.64 - - -
Westpac Special - 7.29 6.89 6.65
Median 8.64 7.29 7.32 6.65

Last updated: 28 March 2024 9:42am

About Us  |  Advertise  |  Contact Us  |  Terms & Conditions  |  Privacy Policy  |  RSS Feeds  |  Letters  |  Archive  |  Toolbox  |  Disclaimer
 
Site by Web Developer and eyelovedesign.com