Ethical assets gain weight as The Co-operative Group jump on board

Ethical Investing

The world's first ethical insurance policy has been created by The Co-operative Group.

Incorporating both The Co-operative Bank and The Co-operative Insurance, Co-operative Group will not invest money into any companies that fail to meet its ethical guidelines. This will mean that companies involved with tobacco, arms, fur, and fossil fuels will be exempt from investment.

This move could a big indication of where the world is moving in terms of ethical outlooks. Despite recent reports stating that ethical funds are still under performing compared to their morally suspect rivals, ethical funds are only going to gain weight as outlooks change and become more ethically aware.

Apparently assets amounting to £80 million have already been cast away as their new policies come into effect.

Chief executive of The Co-operative Group, Neville Richardson said: “Our GI customers will know that the investments supporting their policies are ethically screened. Our ethical policy now includes the £1bn of assets which support our car, home and business insurance products so that our customers can be confident that their money will not be invested unethically. Following the introduction of our bank Ethical Policy in 1992, we have withheld over £1bn of loans from business activities that our customers say are unethical while at the same time increasing our total commercial lending sixteen fold to almost £9 billion.”