Ethical planners set up shop in Melbourne
Ethical investing has been pushed even further to the forefront with a UK-based financial planning group, specialising in ethical investments, launching its Australian operations in Melbourne.
The new group will be known as The Ethical Investment Company of Australia and will be based on the UK-based Ethical Investment Co-operative. The group will be headed by founder and director Guy Hooker. The UK co-operative of independent financial advisers services individual clients, trade unions, charities and pressure groups.
Hooker, who has been involved in ethical investing for about 12 years, will take on the group's chief executive position. His role will include researching ethical UK and European stocks for the international division of portfolios. Three Australian directors have also been appointed to the group. Nick Cowling is in charge of business development, Mario Ragusa is the group's finance director and Ross Brierty heads up marketing.
Cowling says the group has already appointed two financial planners and there are plans to add several more, as well as appoint a researcher and analyst.
"We will also contract out for staff but because of our niche market, it is important to have quality in-house research," Cowling says.
The arrival of the Ethical Investment Company of Australia onto the ethical investment scene marks the country's continuing interest for socially responsible investments (SRI).
The Ethical Investment Company investment portfolios will have a majority of Australian equities, with about 40 to 45 per cent in European stocks. Hooker says the group currently has a negative view of the US with no plan to use stocks from that market for the short to mid-term future.
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