Skip to main content

Money, Ethics and You: A Heady Cocktail or a Disappointing Brew?

Those of us who save and invest ethically like to think that we are doing our bit to help the environment or encourage sustainable international development. Are we really making a difference or just making ourselves feel better?

Coctails 2 1566814

A chance encounter at RISC (Reading International Solidarity Centre) led to my being invited to give a talk on ethical finance during Reading International Festival. I chose to focus on the fact that investors hope to encourage ethical activities through portfolio choices (the heady cocktail) but may instead find that the retail products in which they invest are not quite what they imagined (the disappointing brew).

The event was well-attended and thanks to the knowledgeable audience, we had a thought-provoking discussion about the ethical use of money, ranging across topics like the relative merits of lending to, and buying shares in ethical companies; fund managers’ fees; CEOs’ stock options and the implications of tax breaks for responsible investing.

It was great to have the chance to speak to a diverse audience which was united in a passion to act responsibly and to encourage business to do the same. My thanks to Zainab Khan for organising the event and to everyone who came along and made it such a stimulating evening.

Published 20 October 2017

You might also like

The criminal responsibilities of … economists?

4 February 2013
Using the events of L'Aquila and the subsequent convictions of Italian seismologists as a starting point, Dr Ioannis Oikonomou goes on to explore the extent to which economists could and should be held accountable for economic and financial turmoils.

The ICMA Centre Celebrates Cutting of the First Turf

4 July 2007
The ICMA Centre celebrated the start of work on the Centre's extension and the new University of Reading Business School building last week. The Commencement Ceremony which was followed by a champagne reception was attended by more than 200 guests, including businesses from the City and all over the world, as well as staff and alumni.

FSSC recognises ICMA?s Executive Education Programmes

14 April 2008
The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) today announced that the Operations Certificate Programme (OCP) is the first "Recommended Exam" on the Wholesale Banking / Operations list, compiled by the UK's Financial Services Skills Council (FSSC). The programme has also met the FSSC's Key 6 "Appropriate Exam" standards for Activity 16 - Overseeing on a day-to-day basis safeguarding and administrating investment or holding of client money) and Activity 17 - Overseeing on a day-to-day basis administrative functions for managing investments including, arranging settlement; monitoring and processing corporate actions; client account administration, liaison and reporting, including valuation and performance measurement; ISA, PEP or CTF administration; Investment trust savings scheme administration.