Eurosif (European Social Investment Forum), has finalized Transparency Guidelines for the retail SRI financial sector to maintain and increase consumer confidence in this dynamic and high growth area. The pan-European effort is the result of a multi-stakeholder consultation that incorporated the views of the financial services community, research groups, NGO's, trade unions and others.
Signatories of the Guidelines will have up to six months to implement the guidelines and the option to choose the media they wish in order to publish their responses.
Signatories should be open and honest and disclose accurate, adequate and timely information to enable stakeholders, in particular consumers, to understand the SRI policies and practices related to the fund. Verification of the results will be decided by Social Investment Forums at the National level and will range from self-policing to third party verification.
Commenting on the Guidelines, Executive Director for Eurosif, Matt Christensen said, "The Eurosif Retail Guidelines are an innovative means for asset managers to show interested investors how they create and manage an SRI fund. The Dutch SIF, VBDO, did an excellent job in starting this effort in 2002 and Eurosif has now broadened it to include all of Europe. The Guidelines should not only help with the continuing professionalisation of the SRI sector, but also serve as a model for the financial community in Europe and abroad. I expect to see this initiative to feed similar efforts in other countries over time."
Early adopters who have tested the Guidelines and agreed to become signatories include: ABN AMRO, ASN, Banca Etica, CIS, F&C, Hendersons, ING, Insight, Jupiter, Morley, Orange Sense, Postbank, Robeco, SNS, Standard Life and Triodos. It is expected that there will be a number of other signatories from across Europe going into 2005.
Eurosif will seek to make a database of all signatory responses available to the public.
About Eurosif
Eurosif is a pan-European group whose mission is to encourage and develop sustainable and responsible investment and better corporate governance. Current members of Eurosif include pension funds, financial service providers, academic institutes, research associations and NGOs.
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