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Does
Ethical Investment Matter?
Before the current economic crisis landed on
our television screens the major battleground
for politicians in the next decade was said
to be ethical issues. Candidates competed over
who was “more green” and who had
the best vision for creating a cleaner, more
responsible future.
Those issues are probably still important to
most of the electorate, but figures from the
US have shown how in the wake of the economic
crisis people are more concerned with their
job security than they are with plans to make
sure that endangered species don’t get
wiped out. It’s difficult to criticise
this viewpoint, but in such difficult times,
does ethical investment still matter?
In no uncertain terms it is the banks that are
facing the finger of blame when it comes to
the makings of the current crisis. Massive risk-taking
in order to pursue a cheap and quick profit,
as well as an apparent complete lack of accountability
meant that the liabilities outweighed the assets
enormously. The system had to right itself,
and when customers started defaulting on credit
agreements, it forced everyone to wake up and
realise just how much of a tangle we’d
got into.
One notable company, however, quietly continued
its ethical theme. The Co-operative Bank launched
a series of adverts last year promising that
money invested with them would be invested in
places that the customer thought was suitable,
not the bank. They were not pursuing short-term
profits, but rather investing in areas that
would yield returns (possibly slower) but also
without the risk, and without the guilt of investing
in, for example, the arms trade.
Likewise the insurance arm of The Co-operative
Bank launched an Ethical Engagement Policy.
This means that every time a customer took out
home
insurance for example, the money that the
company invested in certain companies would
allow the bank to talk with these companies
at shareholder meetings and apply pressure upon
them to change their practices.
In this area The Co-operative Bank is unique,
they have operated prudently throughout the
economic crisis and are sticking to their ideals
when it comes to ethical investment. So does
ethical investment still matter? Absolutely
it does, and according to statistics it still
matters to a large portion of the electorate,
particularly amongst the student population.
Of course, it matters, providing that the rates
that are being offered in connection to these
ethical deals are attractive. Fortunately enough,
with the Co-Operative Bank they are, and investing
your money there might just mean that when the
recession does pass, the world will be in a
better situation ethically as well as financially.
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