Healthy Investment, the historic Greater Manchester-based provider of savings and investments, has been accepted as a signatory to the Principles of Responsible Investment (PRI). The PRI is a set of best practice guidelines drawn up at the instigation of the former United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan.
Healthy Investment is a mutually owned provider of ISAs, Investment Bonds, Junior ISAs, Child Trust Funds and Savings Plans. It is only the second UK friendly society to have signed up to this worldwide initiative, which continues to be supported by the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative and the UN Global Compact.
By becoming a PRI signatory Healthy Investment has affirmed its commitment to embedding the initiative’s six principles into its investment practice and to sharing best practice with other signatories.
Healthy Investment, which was founded in Salford in 1835, is one of the UK’s longest-established providers of ethical investments. With its current headquarters in Bury, it continues to be based in Greater Manchester and, as a friendly society, it is owned by, and run for the benefit of, its more than 110,000 members.
Peter Green, chief executive of Healthy Investment, said, “Our origins are in the 19th-century temperance movement so ethical investment is part of our DNA. However, as ethical and sustainable investment have become mainstream and morphed into ‘Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance’ or ‘ESG’ investing, 21st-century investors need to understand what we mean by ethics and that these correspond with their own values.
“By signing up to the Principles of Responsible Investment we are able to provide new and existing members with the confidence that their investments are managed in a way that is consistent with an internationally recognised set of standards. Just as important as the Principles themselves, membership of the PRI also gives us access to a vast array of resources and will enable us both to share our experience with other leading responsible investors and to learn from global best practice.”
The six Principles of Responsible Investment to which Healthy Investment has committed itself are:
- Principle 1: We will incorporate ESG issues into investment analysis and decision-making processes.
- Principle 2: We will be active owners and incorporate ESG issues into our ownership policies and practices.
- Principle 3: We will seek appropriate disclosure on ESG issues by the entities in which we invest.
- Principle 4: We will promote acceptance and implementation of the Principles within the investment industry.
- Principle 5: We will work together to enhance our effectiveness in implementing the Principles.
- Principle 6: We will each report on our activities and progress towards implementing the Principles.
The Principles were developed by the investment industry, at the instigation of the United Nations Secretary General, as a step toward creating a more sustainable global financial system. Signatories to the PRI represent a majority of the world’s professionally managed investments.
