This Month
Investors find value in championing social good
Impact investing is on the rise as more Australians seek to drive positive change as they reap financial returns.
- Prashant Mehra
Perennial fundie’s top small-cap healthcare picks
Perennial portfolio manager Damian Cottier has increased the fund’s stake in Calix and shares why he likes Immutep.
- Joanne Tran
Voice not ‘main game’ for ethical companies
Businesses backing social causes need to test the views of staff and customers and back up words with action, a survey has found.
- John Kehoe
Macquarie’s $59b number-crunchers embrace AI to beat the market
Benjamin Leung and Scot Thompson are using advances in artificial intelligence to pick stocks and drive returns that outperform the index.
- Jonathan Shapiro
Caution creeps into green finance market
As investors and regulators lift the credibility bar for borrowers, the sustainability-linked finance market faces its first real confidence test.
- Updated
- Jonathan Shapiro
ETFs quietly rewrite rule books amid regulatory crackdown
ASIC’s move on Vanguard for alleged misleading marketing has the rest of the ETF sector scrambling.
- Nina Hendy
How to turn your super portfolio green
Forty years after Australian Ethical opened its doors, the $3.5 trillion superannuation sector is scrambling to launch and grow similar ethically invested products. What is on the market and best for investors?
- Hannah Wootton
August
BlackRock hit by backlash after fall in ESG votes
The New York City comptroller has accused the $14.7 trillion asset management group of giving in to a war against environmental, social and governance causes.
- Nicholas Megaw, Brooke Masters and Madison Darbyshire
Wall Street is growing to hate these three letters, so is Target
The retailer suffered a backlash from customers over its Pride merchandise, the latest company caught in a recoil in the US against those championing social issues.
- Matthew Cranston
BlackRock, State Street scramble to manage greenwashing risk
Alarmed by ASIC’s case against Vanguard, asset managers across the board have been meeting to discuss vulnerability to prosecution.
- Updated
- Hannah Wootton and Joanna Mather
July
Where to get the best ‘ethical’ super returns
Large industry super funds delivered the highest returns of all ethical funds over several investment periods, exceeding those from ESG-specific funds by as much as five percentage points.
- Hannah Wootton
ASIC sues ex-commissioner’s new employer
In an industry full of well-compensated chancers and spruikers, vanilla Vanguard is being sued regarding an ETF that charges a mere 0.24 per cent fee.
- Myriam Robin
- Opinion
- Opinion
Barbie is a rare winner in the corporate culture wars
American business finds itself increasingly caught in the nation’s woke and anti-woke crosshairs.
- Rana Foroohar
June
- Opinion
- Opinion
It’s worth investors sticking around as ESG reinvents itself
With AI being sold as the solution to everything, responsible investing is maturing and likely to prove naysayers wrong.
- Giselle Roux
Labor rejects push to minimise scrutiny of ethical super funds
The government is also sticking with plans to use indices to benchmark fund performance despite calls from AustralianSuper to ditch them.
- Hannah Wootton
Lower returns in ethical super are about to be more obvious
Australia’s second-biggest super fund warned that sustainable funds often avoid investing in dirty - but lucrative - stocks that drive up returns in other funds.
- Hannah Wootton
- Opinion
- ESG Summit
ESG investing isn’t ‘woke’ – it’s capitalism working as it should
Critics like to paint ethical and green investing as a form of socialism, but buying assets to influence them is a sign of a functioning free market.
- Aleks Vickovich
Why Nathan Parkin is betting big on small caps
The Ethical Partners fund manager has shrugged off the market uncertainty and has his eyes on Australian Clinical Labs’ bid for Healius.
- Joanne Tran
EU slams banks’ rising greenwashing practices
The European Banking Authority says there is a “clear increase” in financial institutions overstating their climate credentials.
- Kenza Bryan and Alice Hancock
Ex Unilever boss on doing the right thing (and making money)
As the CEO who turned Unilever green, the Dutchman received many more bouquets than brickbats – even from shareholders. Over lunch, he shares his secret sauce.
- Hans van Leeuwen
