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NEWS AND COMMENTS 3/20/08 MSN Money Joins the Call for a Credit Card Revolution. Citing tough new laws in the UK limiting what banks can charge for credit cards, Liz Pulliam of MSN Money calls for rolling back fees that are far above bank costs and time periods for repayment that are unreasonable. Comment: One writer says it all about the political environment: "The party is over," Time for financial institutions to be proactive about consumer friendliness?
3/16/08 Shariah has been gaining respect in Islamic countries, International Herald Tribune. The respect is being gained among women as well as men. Western and Muslim views of Shariah diverge because "Shariah" means more than "Islamic law". To believing Muslims, Shariah is infused with moral and metaphysical purpose, essentially presenting the idea that all human beings — and all human governments — are subject to justice under the law. The Arabic word referring to Islamic legal reasoning or rulings is fiqh, meaning Islamic jurisprudence. The word "Shariah" connotes a connection to the divine, a set of unchanging beliefs and principles that order life in accordance with God's will.
3/11/08 The State of SRI, CSR Wire. The Social Investment Forum (SIF)’s biennial report on trends in socially responsible investing (SRI) concludes that from in 2007 SRI assets rose to $2.7 trillion, an 18 percent increase from $2.3 trillion in 2005. This increase was six times the pace of all managed investments. The report was covered in the WSJ, On Wall Street, GreenBiz, Pensions & Investments, and Financial Planning. Support for proxy resolutions on social and environmental issues rose to a record 15.4 average, from 9.8 percent in 2005.
2/12/08 Muhammad Yunus Interviewed about His New Book, Democracy Now! Muhammad Yunus won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for pioneering a microcredit program that helps hundreds of thousands of impoverished Bangladeshis—mostly women—by providing small unsecured loans, which are then repaid. He is author of the new book Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism.
1/30/08 Innovest Strategic Value Advisors (a socially responsible investment, SRI, firm) in 2004 launched at Davos its Global 100 List of most sustainable companies. Now it joins Toronto-based Corporate Knights magazine to offer an updated list. For example, it dropped Goldman Sachs and Google and added Société Générale. Comment: It seems Google may well have strayed from its "Do No Evil" philosophy in the privacy arena, especially with its bid to buy DoubleClick (see the EPIC website). But it has just launched a new philanthropic image and Google has an enormous reservoir of goodwill to draw from because of the free services it provides. What other new product in the last 25 years can you get for free that is so valuable, even from the perspective of environmental sustainability (think of the gasoline saved from not having to travel for information, the paper that doesn't have to be printed any more because the information is accessible electronically)? For Innovest to sell Goldman Sachs and buy SocGen seems like a bad trade right now - even from an environmental perspective.
1/16/08 CSR in Finance - Green Lending. One way banks can show their concern for a sustainable future is through environmentally careful lending practices. Ceres has issued a new report that grades large banks on climate change issues. It was released last week. The report puts European banks at the top of the list - HSBC (70 points out of 100), ABN AMRO (66), Barclays and HBOS (61), and Deutsche Bank (60). At the other extreme, Bear Stearns gets zero points. Lehman Brothers released a report on the business challenges of climate change that received praise, but it scored a disappointing 26. Other banks active on this topic are
- Goldman Sachs, which invested $1.5 billion in clean energy in 2006 and scored 53.
- Merrill Lynch, which launched an Energy Efficiency Index in 2007, and scored 52.
- Morgan Stanley, which established a Carbon Bank in 2007 to help clients go carbon neutral, and scored 49.
12/3/07 The Value of the Anti-Redlining Law, Washington Post Op-Ed, “The Democratization of Credit,” by Lawrence K. Fish, Chairman of RBS America and Citizens Financial Group. The Community Reinvestment Act, now 30 years old, corrected racist and gender-biased mortgage practices.
12/03/07 Rate Freeze on Subprime Loans in the Works, Washington Post. The teaser rates that were to rise may not.
12/03/07 The World’s Four New Financial Power Brokers, McKinsey Quarterly. The new brokers: Asian central banks, oil-rich countries, hedge funds and private-equity firms.
11/28/07 Lenders Promise $100 Million Aid to Cities, Detroit Free Press. Mortgage lenders, responding to mayors' distress, agreed to provide $100 per foreclosed property (1 million foreclosures expected; the Joint Economic Committee estimates 2 million for the nation) for credit counseling and a free online database of owners of foreclosed properties. Pension Fund investment issue.
[Older stories]
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CSR AND FINANCE - TOPICS
Financial Responsibility
Microfinance
Socially Responsible Investing (SRI)
Links to Calvert Innovest
Islamic Finance (Shariah)
Shareholder Activism (Proxies)
Public-Purpose Bonds
Corporate Philanthropy
BLOGS
5/3/08 (Blogspot)
Green Lending as an Indicator of Financial Health. The relative success of the Vice Fund is a reminder that companies can still make a profit on the addictions of smokers, drinkers, gamblers and arms buyers. The children of darkness can sometimes be wiser - socially responsible investing can indeed cost something to a portfolio. For example, I have joined in questioning alcohol screens. It's therefore interesting when good CSR practices seem to provide a proxy for the solvency of financial institutions. In January, Ceres issued a report that grades large banks on climate change issues. It puts European banks at the top of the list - HSBC (70 points out of 100 on Ceres' Climate Change Governance Checklist), ABN AMRO (66), Barclays and HBOS (61), and Deutsche Bank (60). At the other extreme, Bear Stearns gets zero points and Lehman Brothers - despite a well-received report on climate change - scored a mere 26. Other U.S. financial institutions were in the middle. Goldman Sachs invested $1.5 billion in clean energy in 2006 and scored 53. Merrill Lynch launched an Energy Efficiency Index in 2007 and scored 52. Morgan Stanley established a Carbon Bank in 2007 to help clients go carbon neutral and scored 49. The ratings were a proxy for long-term thinking and might have been used to predict the insolvency of Bear Stearns.
1/16/08 CSR in Finance - Green Lending. One way banks can show their concern for a sustainable future is through environmentally careful lending practices. Ceres has issued a new report that grades large banks on climate change issues. It was released last week. The report puts European banks at the top of the list - HSBC (70 points out of 100 on Ceres' Climate Change Governance Checklist), ABN AMRO (66), Barclays and HBOS (61), and Deutsche Bank (60). At the other extreme, Bear Stearns gets zero points. Lehman Brothers released a report on the business challenges of climate change that received praise, but it scored a disappointing 26. Other banks active on this topic are
- Goldman Sachs, which invested $1.5 billion in clean energy in 2006 and scored 53.
- Merrill Lynch, which launched an Energy Efficiency Index in 2007, and scored 52.
- Morgan Stanley, which established a Carbon Bank in 2007 to help clients go carbon neutral, and scored 49.
1/15/07 Islamic Banking and CSR. As we see large parts of our banking system being acquired by sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and East Asia, we should pay more attention to Islamic banking, whether or not the acquiring institution has any intention of engaging in Islamic banking. Harvard has recognized the growing importance of the topic by creating an Islamic Finance Center. More: 1/15/07 Blogspot, John Tepper Marlin, Islamic Banking.
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