Formerly known as Koinonia, reflecting a biblical sense of fellowship, the scheme rebranded in 2018 and has cemented its distinct position in the market.

Managed by The New Zealand Anglican Church Pension Board, the scheme offers three funds catering to varying risk appetites: the Income Fund, Balanced Fund and Growth Fund.

Distinguished by ethical investment principles, Christian KiwiSaver meticulously selects investments, consciously avoiding ties to industries like fossil fuels, alcohol, tobacco, gambling and defence.

With annual fund fees ranging between 0.80% and 1.50% and no additional performance fees, the scheme extends its accessibility by exempting individuals under 18 from any charges.

In terms of returns, the performance of Christian KiwiSaver funds over the past five years mirrors the average KiwiSaver returns. This result affirms a consistent financial trajectory without compromising ethical commitments.

Founded on the Anglican Church Pension Board's pre-existing ethical investment mandate, the scheme inherited a culture emphasising ethical considerations alongside financial performance.

Furthermore, their collaboration with the UK-based Church Investors Group enriches their ethical insights, enabling informed decisions aligning investments with shared ethical values.

The scheme manages over $NZ88 million in KiwiSaver assets and serves 2,134 clients.

According to their website, membership of the Christian KiwiSaver Scheme is offered only to:

•  "employees of organisations whose primary activities are, in our opinion, Christian mission or ministry. This includes employees of charitable entities associated with or operating in the Christian Church, or employees of entities which we approve as having a Christian special character; and

•  "persons who express a Christian faith and have a commitment to Christian community involvement when applying (and their immediate family members and dependants)."

Sources

National Capital

Christian KiwiSaver

CathNews New Zealand

Note: This is a news story, It is not an endorsement, a paid-for placement, nor investment advice.

One key question: If I try to invest ethically, am I shortchanging myself when a crunch comes?

Believe it or not, investing for profit can be considered a Catholic virtue.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops makes this clear in its principles for its own investments, published last November, which also serves a guide to socially responsible investing for us all.

Church leaders "should exercise responsible financial stewardship over its economic resources," the bishops write.

"In practical fiscal terms, this means obtaining a reasonable rate of return on investments."

In other words: You can't do any good if you torch your money on bad investments. The point of investing, the bishops say, is (in the words of investing gurus and commercials) to keep our money working hard for us.

You can't do any good if you torch your money on bad investments.

To be sure, the desire for profit should be balanced with the common good.

"Decisions about the use of capital have moral implications," the bishops write, especially for the weak and vulnerable. So they call for investments "that promote community development" or "produce some truly significant social good," even when these investments "may result in a lower rate of return."

Similarly, when Pope Francis calls business a "noble vocation," he is talking about business as a way for humans to interact constructively and healthily.

"Business abilities, which are a gift from God, should always be clearly directed to the development of others and to eliminating poverty, especially through the creation of diversified work opportunities," he writes in "Fratelli Tutti."

In its desire for ethical investing that also delivers "reasonable" returns, the church is close to the movement for ethical investing—often referred to E.S.G., short for environmental, social and governance investing.

In practice, what this means is investing in things like electric cars and renewable energy instead of carbon-emitting companies; employers that pay $20 an hour instead of $10; and firms that hire as many women as men for top boardroom jobs.

The Catholic version of E.S.G. also includes prohibitions against investing in pharmaceutical firms that use human embryos for research or hospital chains that offer abortions.

E.S.G. assets are expected to top $50 trillion by 2025, representing over a third of the over $140 trillion in global assets under investment.

But the traditional definition of E.S.G., focused on the environment and treatment of workers, might be too narrow.

It is also important, the bishops write, to look at "investment funds aimed at satisfying basic needs associated with agriculture, access to water, adequate housing and reasonable prices, as well as with primary health care and educational services."

Along those lines, another way to think about ethical investing is to look for companies that provide services that are elemental to everyday life—and that, not incidentally, survive almost every economic downturn.

A rule of thumb for cautious investing that is also ethical investing is simply to consider what people always need.

"There are some goods where demand is constant regardless of the economy," says Mario DiFiore, the director of student investment funds at Fordham's business school.

"We always need to get our groceries."

By contrast, demand for vacation rentals, tickets to "Hamilton" and gas-guzzling luxury cars is elastic, which means demand shrinks during a downturn.

Another way to think about ethical investing is to look for companies that provide services that are elemental to everyday life. Continue reading

It seems many are being misled by fund managers who are doing just the opposite, Mindful Money research has found.

The not-for-profit group researches investment providers and helps consumers understand where their money is being invested. It has just completed a study of 800 or so investment funds. Around half were KiwiSaver.

The research discovered some $11 billion were "unethical investments" in business involving fossil fuels, animal testing, alcohol production and questionable human rights practices.

Mindful Money's founder and chief executive Barry Coates (pictured) said the trend is completely at odds with overwhelming demand for ethical investing.

He's questioning the broad industry claims of embracing the "ethical" trend.

"The latest trends in New Zealand investment are worrying. Instead of moving towards net zero by reducing the fossil fuel companies in their portfolios, fund managers have doubled down and invested far more.

"Instead of making empty promises about being ethical and responsible, fund managers need to walk the talk and back up their rhetoric with the reality of their portfolio holdings."

Last month the Financial Markets Authority warned it would be cracking down on greenwashing - making investments seem ethically sound.

The Mindful Money survey showed:

• a 64 percent increase in the amount invested in fossil fuel companies, which reflects the sharp rise in global fuel prices
• a double-digit increase in funds in companies which use animals for testing
• a 25 percent rise in the amount invested in alcohol producers

Coates said KiwiSaver and other New Zealand investment funds might not be fully aware the investments have been moved. They either contract the funds' management to overseas third party managers or invest it in passive funds that automatically track various indices, he explained.

He stopped short of accusing the investment industry of deliberately lying to consumers.

"This does look like it's misleading information. Many of the funds say they engage with the companies to improve their performance but we see very few details of that happening."

Mindful Money won't name the companies involved, but Coates says they will be asking them for more information and explanations.

If investors changed investment providers it might send a message about unethical investment funds, but on its own this won't be enough, Coates suggests.

He thinks stronger measures are needed, for example official regulation and enforcement from the likes of the Financial Markets Authority to bring about change.

"KiwiSaver providers should have an obligation to tell the public about what they are doing with regard to reducing their harmful impacts on the climate, the environment and society, as well as their investments in positive benefits," he says.

"Reporting should be consistent and comparable, using clear standards, as there are for reporting on financial issues like fees, returns and benchmarks."

Source

• Barry Coates

On Saturday he added his voice to calls from a number of world leaders for an more environmentally sustainable economic model.

Speaking in a video message for an online event called "Countdown Global Launch, A Call to Action on Climate Change", Francis said:

"Science tells us, every day with more precision, that we need to act urgently ... if we are to have any hope of avoiding radical and catastrophic climate change."

Francis told those at the event that the three key actions needed to ensure we avoid the predicted catastrophes are:

• better education about the environment
• sustainable agriculture and access to clean water
• a transition away from fossil fuels.

"One way to encourage this change is to lead companies towards the urgent need to commit to the integral care of our common home, excluding from investments companies that do not meet [these] parameters ... and rewarding those that [do]," he said.

The pressing need to address the climate crisis and related social problems is even more urgent, he said during the online event.

"The current economic system is unsustainable. We are faced with a moral imperative ... to rethink many things."

Francis suggested aspects of our current system we can address if we are committed to the environment and its future.

These include the means of production, consumerism, waste, indifference to the poor, and harmful energy sources.

In June, a Vatican document urged Catholics to de-invest from the armaments and fossil fuel industries and to monitor companies in sectors such as mining for possible damage to the environment.

Other speakers and activists at the online event included actress Jane Fonda, Britain's Prince William, former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Source

• US News
• Image: Stuff

This is one of the findings revealed in the most recent annual surveys undertaken jointly by Mindful Money and the Responsible Investment Association of Australasia.

Mindful Money is a charity promoting ethical investing.

Its most recent report, Inside the Black Box of New Zealand Investment Funds was released last week.

The report shows the amount invested in each of the ten categories that the public wants to avoid and the trends over one year for the KiwiSaver fund and six months for retail investment funds.

The public has been clear in annual surveys that they do not want to invest in sectors like weapons, gambling and fossil fuels or in companies that violate human rights or test products on animals.

Barry Coates, founder and CEO of Mindful Money, commented: "There has been progress in responsible investing.

This reflects the international revolution towards investing responsibly and shows the benefits of transparency."

However, "...the major investment funds are still failing to reduce the harm from their investment," said Coates.

Despite the declines, there are still large amounts invested in Animal Welfare abuses ($2.2bn), Fossil Fuels ($1.6bn) and Human Rights violations ($1.2bn).

"It makes no sense that some funds are actually increasing their investment in fossil fuels when data shows that the US Oil and Gas index has dropped by 63% over the past five years," Coates said.

They are ignoring the facts and the frequent warnings of financial risks to fossil fuel companies.

126 KiwiSaver funds have investments in Exxon-Mobil, a company that has spent hundreds of millions on funding climate deniers."

Source

• Supplied Mindful Money
• Image: caresaver.co.nz

The KiwiSaver schemes of ANZ, ASB, AMP, BNZ, Kiwi Wealth and Westpac were among those with funds still tainted with exposure to nuclear weapons despite a public outcry in 2016 following. Continue reading

Some KiwiSaver funds invested in nuclear arms industry]]> 122448 https://cathnews.co.nz/2019/07/01/mindful-money-ethical/ Mon, 01 Jul 2019 08:02:15 +0000 https://cathnews.co.nz/?p=118827

Mindful Money, a new charitable social enterprise helping people to invest ethically, was launched last week in New Zealand. The launch took place at a Go Live event in Auckland. Mindful Money, a free service, provides members of the public with a platform to check what is in their current KiwiSaver investments and to easily Read more

A Reuters' investigation has shown some of the largest American Catholic organisations have millions of dollars invested in the energy sector.

Investments range from hydraulic fracturing firms to oil sands producers.

Dioceses with such investments include Boston, Chicago, Baltimore and Toledo.

The holdings tend to make up between 5 and 10 per cent of the dioceses' overall equities investments.

But their fossil fuel holdings have likely triggered losses in recent years due to sliding oil prices.

In his recent encyclical Laudato Si', Pope Francis declared that the use of "highly polluting fossil fuels . . . needs to be progressively replaced without delay".

The Archdiocese of Chicago had "under 8 per cent" of its US$1.65 billion portfolio in fossil fuels, a spokeswoman said.

Chicago archdiocese told Reuters it will re-examine its more than US$100 million worth of fossil fuel investments.

"We are beginning to evaluate the implications of the encyclical across multiple areas, including investments and also including areas such as energy usage and building materials," said Betsy Bohlen, chief operating officer for the archdiocese.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' guidelines on ethical investing warn Catholics and Catholic institutions against investing in companies related to abortion, contraception, pornography, tobacco, and war, but do not suggest avoiding energy stocks.

Fr Michael Crosby, a Capuchin friar who advocates for socially responsible investing in the Church, pointed to a "clash between Pope Francis's vision of the world and the world that the bishops who run the investments live in".

"The bishops are a very conservative group, and I'm not hopeful this will be resolved anytime soon," he said.

Sources

• Reuters
• Image: Libya Business News

It seems like everyone is running for the door these days when it comes to investing in this dirty fossil fuel.

The country of Norway and the city of Seattle are moving to divest their funds from coal.

Religious organizations like the United Church of Christ, the Church of England, and universities like Oxford, Stanford and Georgetown have announced plans to either divest from coal or reduce their holdings.

But coal is not the only subject to give Catholic responsible investors pause.

What about investing in companies that materially contribute to war?

What about investing in oil and gas companies?

What about investing in the companies that successfully lobbied the state of Indiana to amend its Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which appeared to discriminate against the LGBT community?

Are such investments materially cooperating with the advance of same-sex marriage?

What about investing in companies that offer benefits to same-sex couples?

NCR had a lengthy conversation with Daniel Nielsen, director of Catholic responsible investing at the Christian Brothers Investment Services (CBIS) in order to better understand how Catholic responsible investing functions in a changing cultural environment.

Founded in 1981, Christian Brothers Investment Services is a for-profit investment adviser with more than $6 billion in assets under management.

It is a global investment management firm with offices in New York, Chicago and Rome, and a leader in responsible investing for Catholic institutions. Continue reading

- Tom Gallagher is lead writer for NCR's Mission Management column.

Image: NCR

Rod Oram, who moved the proposal, told synod that it "gives us the opportunity to offer leadership on, and to make a practical response to, climate change.

"Thus, it speaks to two marks of our Christian mission: care of creation and righting unjust social structures.

"Of all the ways in which we live unsustainably," he said, "it is climate change that is causing the gravest harm - right now, here and around the world - to the very ecosystem on which our existence depends."

And climate change, he said, is being driven "simply by pumping a rapidly rising volume of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases" into the atmosphere.

Oram is a journalist specialising in economic issues.

The motion drew impassioned support from Tikanga Pasefika speakers, most notably Bishop Api Qiliho, who said the survival of Pacific Island people was at stake.

There were notes of caution, however, from Mark Wilcox, General Manager of the Anglican Pension Board.

He told synod that the Pension Board manages $160 million of funds on behalf of its members, many of whom are retired or serving clergy.

Mr Wilcox said the Board took its ethical investment philosophy seriously, and had wrestled with how to respond "to the growing tide of sentiment around the world for divestment of fossil fuel investments."

But it also had to take its fiduciary obligations to its members equally seriously.

Source

• Anglican Taonga
• Pacific Scoop
• Image: Anglican Taonga

‘Don`t Bank on the Bomb' details how 298 private and public financial institutions around the world invest almost $314 billion (USD) in 27 companies involved in the production, maintenance and modernization of nuclear weapons. It is launched today in the wake of the forthcoming UN General Assembly First Committee, set to begin discussion on nuclear weapons on 17 October. Continue reading

On September 7, at the Anglican Diocese of Auckland Synod, the diocese voted overwhelmingly in favour of a motion calling on the diocese to withdraw its investments from companies whose main business is the extraction and/or production of fossil fuels.

In doing so it became the first institutional body in New Zealand to do so.

A spokeswoman for the Catholic bishops said Catholic Archbishop John Dew had already had an initial meeting with staff on the issue, reports the NZ Herald.

"They plan to ... undertake the [necessary] consultation before the conversation on this goes any further," she said.

Ethical investment adviser, Dr Rodger Spiller, said he was not aware of any other significant New Zealand investor that had sold out of fossil fuel investments on principle, but there was "a strong possibility" that others would follow the Anglican lead.

The Rev. Mathew Newton, of St Paul's Symonds Street, who introduced the synod motion, stressed in his speech the moral argument for fossil fuel divestment, saying "global climate change ... will have its greatest effect on those who have the least access to the world's resources and who have contributed least to its cause — not least in the Pacific islands where sea level rise already poses a grave threat."

The move to divest was a question of "moral consistency," Newton said.

"If we are making efforts to reduce our carbon emissions on the one hand, it doesn't make sense for us to be financing the fossil fuel industry through our investments on the other."

Sources

• NZ Herald
• Episcopal News Service
• Image: The Finance Pages