Richard Gnodde will join the unit as their third co-head in a move which is seen as an attempt by the company to step up their presence outside of America.

Investment banking is no longer Goldman Sachs biggest earning division, but the company is refusing to drop it completely, and still see’s it as vital to maintaining their position.

Also joining the team are Yoel Zaoui, head of European investment banking, and Gene Sykes from Los Angeles, as global co-heads of M&A. Leaving are Gordon Dyal and Christopher Cole.

Chief executive of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein joined president Gary Cohn in writing a note to all the other employees explaining,  “These important changes reflect the continued importance and growth of the firm’s global client franchise and the contributions that both Richard and Gordon have made to the firm and the investment banking division.”

The bank has been making changes frequently in the past few months. In March Michael Sherwood succeeded Mr Cohn as chairman of their partnership committee, and in January Michael Evans moves from being their Asia chairman to head of emerging markets.

Goldman Sachs are making the changes after a business standards survey which revealed that the banks senior management were worried that the backlash after the economic crisis has hurt the companies standing with corporate customers around the world.

“Clients raised concerns about whether the firm has remained true to its traditional values … given the changes to the firm’s size, business mix and perceptions about the role of proprietary trading. Clients said that in some circumstances, the firm weighs its interests and short-term incentives too heavily.”

Looking for advice on your personal finances? do you have a pension? perhaps savings? all can be reviewed by our specialists, contact us today on 0800 678 5929.

Is it acceptable to include major oil companies such as BP in an Ethical/Sustainable fund?

In the aftermath of BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, America’s southern states and coastal communities are now facing an economic and environmental disaster. With the scale of devastation and economic loss, particularly to the valuable shrimp industry, it is very difficult to justify an oil company’s inclusion in any investment fund categorised as Ethical/Sustainable.

Although you may be investing in a fund, which advertises itself as Ethical/Sustainable, the chances are it includes major holdings in some of the world’s major energy and oil companies such as BP, Shell, Statoil and Petrobras.

BP, the company currently at the heart of one of the worst ecological disasters to date, could be at the heart of your Ethical/Sustainable fund.

Oil and gas companies are often justified for inclusion in sustainable investment funds due to their mitigation efforts, they may be some of the largest polluting contributors in the world, but develop a few environmental initiatives and some spin and suddenly they are ‘sustainable’.

With a potential 19m gallons of oil that could continue to pump into the Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater Horizon rig, it underlines the question of what exactly constitutes a Sustainable Investment Fund?

There is no doubt oil will continue to play an important role in our future but that doesn’t mean it should get elevated to Ethical/Sustainable status.

It is our view that when green investors decide they want to make a difference with their investment, it is with a view to making a real difference and helping to encourage companies who are working in what we call Primary Sustainovation industries.

Principle First’s investment advice experts, have devised a unique ‘Sustainovation’ Ranking Index to assist ‘Green-minded’ investors to identify the funds that live up to their investment ideals. Funds categorized as having the top ‘Primary Sustainovation’ ranking are those that are investing almost entirely in companies and sectors that directly influence future sustainable energy, energy efficiency and resource management.

The Ethical/Sustainable investment funds with the Primary Sustainovation ranking are:

Allianz RCM Global Eco Trends Fund
Henderson Global Care Growth Fund
Henderson Industries of the Future Fund
IFSL Impax Environmental Leaders Fund
IM WHEB Sustainability Fund
Jupiter Ecology Fund
Quadris Environmental Fund

Investors should note that these are not necessarily the highest or best performing funds in the Ethical/Sustainable sector, but in our opinion they are the ones which provide the best fit for living up to the high investment ideals of the ‘Greenward’ investor.

Speak to one of our investment advisers on 0800 678 5929 or make an investment enquiry

A new initiative to help identify sustainable practices and sustainable businesses looks set to improve confidence in ethical investments.

The Global Initiative for Sustainability Ratings (GISR) aims to provide a unified system for rating companies with truly sustainable business practices.

GISR aims to offer its benchmark as an alternative to the plethora of different sustainability ratings, tools and methods now operating, which it claims are confusing the market, undermining confidence and detracting from the establishment of a centralised order in which ethical investors can trust.

GISR has declared its hope that it can influence asset owners, asset managers, and government procurement practices, driving society in general towards companies that are true sustainability leaders.

GISR claims it is collaborating with asset managers, pension funds, foundations and non-governmental organisations that share a commitment to shaping and strengthening the future of sustainability ratings.

Customer confidence in ethical funds and the ethical investments sector has been hampered, due to the difficulty of identifying companies which truly implement ethical values. Recent research by the ethical watchdog EIRiS showed that 44% of ethically-minded people claim that clearer evidence is needed of the ‘green’ impact of ethical investments. Interest in ethical investments is growing, however, and there is currently £7bn invested in ethical funds in Britain, compared to £1.5bn in 2000, according to EIRiS.

Ethical funds limit their investment strategy to those companies that match their ethical criteria.

Some funds use ‘positive screening’ to locate and include companies which manufacture environmental products, encourage biodiversity, or promote renewable energies.

Other ethical funds use ‘negative screening’ to exclude companies in certain industrial sectors such as tobacco, alcohol, meat, nuclear power, and defence, or avoid specific activities such as deforestation, exploitation of workers, and animal testing.

GISR grew out of the Tellus Institute’s ‘Corporation 20/20′ project, which was backed by a range of the world’s largest companies and organisations including General Electric, Hewlett Packard, Citigroup, and Greenpeace. Moving forward, GISR has said it hopes to grow into an independent, not-for-profit, global organisation.

A new milestone in ethical investment at global level has been laid today, as four Swedish government pension funds have excluded an armaments firm from their portfolio, for alleged breaches of ethical conduct.

Acting on the advice of their Ethical Council, the Swedish funds have terminated their investments in the Israeli company Elbit Systems, which supplies a surveillance system for parts of the West Bank barrier. Elbit Systems had ignored repeated invitations to clarify disputed allegations that it was linked to violations of international rights conventions.

This follows a similar ethical stance taken in 2009 by Norway’s pension fund, which withdrew from investment in the tobacco industry.

Ethical Investments now possible for all

Ethical investment is now an option for every investor, at personal level, through a growing range of ethical investment funds.

Ethical funds choose the companies where they invest based on negative screening or positive screening.

Funds using negative screening avoid certain industries they deem to be unethical, based on those companies’ activities or products. These may include tobacco companies, companies associated with animal testing, deforestation, meat production, nuclear power, pollution, military, or worker exploitation.

Positive ethical investments go one step further, and favour a range of activities generally supported by ethical investors, such as biodiversity, environmental products, renewable energies, sustainable forestry, and water management.

Ethical investments are an easily accessible way to ‘vote with your cash’, and build an ethical stance into your personal financial planning.

This has surely changed over the last 2 years, with the recent recession. People are now more open with their finances, and are able to discuss their future with friends and colleagues.

Why the big change? Maybe it was because we now recognise our own rash behaviour. Everyone feels that the previous problems could have been avoided. Maybe we all know now that we were immoderate, we know that we expected too much, and, even while blowing into the bubble, we sensed that it would, one day, burst.

Will it happen again? Probably. However, there is a change, a change in society, a change in the way we think, a change in our self-confidence. We communicate better now, we listen to reason, we listen to each other. These traits were lost, during the recent boom. Discussion breeds information, information breeds knowledge, and knowledge equals more informed decisions.

Wouldn’t it be great if we talked to our friends about the risk we are taking with our pension, understanding that risk to be a positive aspect of our saving for retirement. Not talking about whether we should save, but talking with an understanding of the future, and the investment potential it may have; talking about our understanding of savings, investments, and other areas of financial planning. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a transparency in the financial services sector, where consumers understood as much as bankers and financial advisers?At Principle First, we believe our clients should understand everything we discuss with them. The financial services sector is portrayed as complicated, for many reasons. It isn’t complicated.

Over the next 3 years, social media, and the modern distribution of information will energise people to take a more active interest in financial planning than ever before. People will become passionate about understanding products, and the theory of what we need to do for our financial future, and the future of our children. This will be driven by the concern people have for green issues, biotechnology issues, and many other areas of emerging industry and society. These are exciting times. It isn’t just about the money, it is as much about peace of mind.

On a lighter note. Watch this short video . It is a television advert in Australia, demonstrating the need for professional financial advice. Make your own decisions. Enjoy!

The challenge continues for managers of ethical funds, in their quest to verify which companies really meet their ethical investment criteria.

Ethical watchdog EIRIS claims that almost half of manufacturing companies fail to monitor the record of the companies in their supply chain, with regard to workers’ rights and labour standards*.

EIRIS found that 45% of companies analysed had no ethical policy or management systems in place to protect labour standards among their suppliers, and therefore fail to report on the issue.

Focusing on developed world large and mid-cap companies, EIRIS found that 13% were high or medium risk for supply chain labour standards.

The consumer industry was by far the largest offender, accounting for 66% of these companies.

Products with the greatest likelihood of poor labour standards in manufacture are clothing, footwear, toys, consumer electronics, and agricultural items.

Interest in ethical funds investments is growing extremely rapidly in the UK. EIRiS reveals there is currently £7bn invested in ethical funds in Britain, compared to £1.5bn ten years ago.

Seventy per cent of people in Great Britain consider their outlook and lifestyle to be green and ethical, and 49% of people with savings and investments would like to make a difference with their money, EIRIS adds.

However, investors remain sceptical of how ethical so-called ethical investments really are, and 44% claim that clearer evidence is needed of the ‘green’ impact of ethical investments.

*Source: ‘A Risky Business’, EIRIS Convention Watch research

Those of us interested in ethical investment think primarily of ethical funds, but we may soon be able to ‘invest’ ethically on a small scale as well, when doing our weekly shopping at the supermarket. 

Tesco has opened the world’s first ethical supermarket with a zero carbon footprint in Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, and the operation of the store has no carbon impact on the environment over the year. 

The store generates its own power onsite from renewable fuels, including vegetable oil, and the traditional steel and plastic frontage is replaced by a sustainably-sourced timber frame. 

Other zero carbon features include: 

• Roof lights and sun-pipes that allow maximum use of natural sunlight on the sales floors
•  Energy-efficient heating and air conditioning systems
• No harmful refrigerants in food and building cooling/heating systems
•  The UK’s first LED-lit car park 
• Solar-powered street lighting and crossing beacons 
• Low-energy bakery ovens

 While the Ramsey store is a unique pilot project, Tesco will build on its design and has the expressed intention of becoming a zero carbon business by 2050. Tesco will incorporate aspects of the Ramsey prototype into future new builds, so that by 2020 each new store will produce 50% less carbon than a store built in 2006.

Are you interested in investing your cash in ethical funds, which aim to support only companies that make a positive contribution to the environment? Find out more about ethical investments and our investment portfolios here.

Norway’s national pension fund has sold off Euro 1.8 bn in tobacco shares, claiming its action reflects the “commonly held values of the owners of the fund.” The fund’s increasing focus on ethical investments follows a review of the Norwegian Tobacco Act and a drive to stop smoking in the country which was one of the first to ban smoking in public places.

Ethical funds now make it possible for the individual investor to opt for an ethical investment, in the same way as the Norway fund.

Having worked with a financial adviser to define your personal risk profile, you can then choose from over 100 ethical investment funds currently available on the UK market.

These are broadly divided into ethical funds based on negative screening, and ethical funds based on positive screening.

Funds investments using negative screening ‘block out’ certain industries which the investor defines as unethical, based on their activities or products.

In addition to tobacco these may avoid companies associated with animal testing, deforestation, meat production, nuclear power, pollution, military and weapons, worker exploitation, and oppressive government regimes.

Positive ethical investments go one step further and attempt to locate companies associated with a range of activities supported by ethical investors, such as biodiversity, environmental products, renewable energies, sustainable forestry, and water management.

The Principle First Ethical Investment Portfolio V1 is a an investment portfolio which takes the ‘legwork’ out of ethical investing by providing a group of investments which meet our requirements regarding low risk and high performance.

Reduced ink consumption can also result in significant financial savings, with Ecofont’s manufacturer, the Dutch marketing firm Spranq, claiming that a company with 5,000 employees could save over £100,000 a year on its printing costs.

The ‘Ecofont’ system is a subscription package that ‘drills holes’ in your normal fontface, eliminating between 20-25% of the ink from your printout by leaving tiny, circular unprinted areas peppered over the letters and characters you use. As the holes are smaller than the eye can see, this has no affect on the legibility of your text.

You can punch environmentally-friendly holes in your favourite font for €15, which provides you with a 3-year licenced download of your font’s eco-variation.

Try before you buy

You can also download a trial ecofont to try the system out. The free-of-charge single font, based on the Bitstream Vera typeface, is available at the website ecofont.eu.

The ideal point sizes for using ecofonts is 10-11 point, roughly the size used in most newspapers and magazines. For lettering larger than this (headlines and larger print) Ecofont is unsuitable, as the tiny holes in the font become visible. In this case, the software senses that the font is too large, and does not add the holes.