The future for ethical investing in Australia

It is also encouraging to see how successful a home-grown ethical fund manager can be. Hunter Hall is the best example of that: formed in 1993, by June 30 it had $2.3 billion under management, all of it in ethical portfolios. Additionally, the diversity of approaches and vehicles used for ethical investment suggests an entrenched and diversified model in Australia. Wholesale managed funds, investment mandates and public super funds account for about 61% of ethical funds management in Australia, with retail managed funds and managed accounts a further 30%, and thematic investment funds (often listed) a further 9%, according to Corporate Monitor. As for method, ethical exclusions, positive screening, thematic investment and best-of-sector all have their advocates, though it is notable that almost all recent product launches have been in the thematic camp. These have included the JB Global Renewable Trust, the Cleantech Australia Fund, and an investment by VicSuper in Future Farming Landscapes.

So what does all this mean for international managers? Firstly, there is clearly a market to be addressed in SRI investment. Of particular importance is the trend towards super funds wanting to either invest ethically or offer investment options to their membership that reflect ethical concerns. Despite its well-known failure to ratify the Kyoto protocol, at an individual level Australians are widely interested in matters such as conservation, climate change and ethics, and companies that have attempted to embrace these themes – insurer IAG, for example, and even some of the bigger mining groups – have generally enjoyed positive feedback for their efforts. Consequently, as the behaviour of institutional capital in superannuation funds increasingly reflects this individual momentum, there is going to be more and more money invested with an ethical bent.

That being the case, a customary argument from the conventional world will also be relevant in the ethical arena: that too much money is chasing too few assets domestically in Australia and the trend is towards international investment. Already, international equity SRI funds are offered by groups including AMP, BT, Dexia, ING, Vanguard and Hunter Hall. This suggests a market for multinationals to launch well-targeted funds.

Doing so will require an understanding of the way that funds are typically marketed in Australia, where the presence of mastertrust and wrap investment platforms utterly dominates the industry. Getting space on these platforms, and thus getting to the notice of the financial planners who advise on so much wealth in Australia, requires tenacity, good ratings from consultants, and generally a three-year track record. Even then, getting on to a platform is only half the battle: some of them have hundreds of investment options that barely budge, and there is a further marketing challenge involved in getting people (both end investors and planners) to ask about these funds and boost their profile.

Still, those who do make headway in Australia are glad they made the effort. Although all asset data worldwide is in flux today, Australia is certainly one of the top five asset management markets in the world and by some measures one of the top three. Getting a foot in the door of the growing SRI funds industry there would surely be worth the effort in the long run.