Co-operative launches core fund range on Fidelity FundsNetwork

Co-operative Investments has launched three core funds onto the FundsNetwork platform widening access of its unit trusts and unique responsible investment expertise in the intermediary market.

Amongst the three funds is the flagship CIS Sustainable Leaders Trust, which became the first socially responsible investment (SRI) fund to top the 324 strong UK All Companies sector earlier this year. Its fund manager - Mike Fox – is currently Citywire’s ‘UK Growth Fund Manager of the Year’ and additionally holds a ‘AAA’ Citywire rating. The other funds are the CIS UK Growth Trust and the CIS UK Income with Growth Trust.

Co-operative Investments was launched to intermediaries earlier this month in response to demand for its products and investment approach, which combine financial and social responsibility analysis into all investment decision-making. This latest move allows investment professionals to access its core UK unit trusts via FundsNetwork, in addition to the Cofunds platform.

Co-operative Investments believes that responsible investing is rapidly becoming part of the mainstream UK retail fund management market. The organisation is committed to supporting intermediaries who are already incorporating responsible investing issues into their business, and also to facilitate the majority of the intermediary market that is yet to come to grips with issues surrounding responsible investing.

Mark Summerfield, Director of Life & Savings said: “The launch onto FundsNetwork is the next step in our commitment to widen and develop a proposition for the broader intermediary market. We believe the combination of our trusted brand, SRI offerings and investment expertise will really appeal to intermediaries.”

Paul Sharman, Director of Investments, added, “We have an investment process which is highly structured and based on proven investment principles that has consistently delivered results above benchmarks. Our fund managers also each have an average of over 12 years’ experience.

“The quality of our process, the talent of our people and the critical mass we have reached with our UK equity operation positions us strongly to compete with the major players in the UK funds management market.”

David Dalton-Brown, Head of FundsNetwork, comments: “We are delighted that Co-operative Investments are joining the platform. Adding its funds brings the total number of ethical funds available on FundsNetwork to 55. The new additions follows analysis conducted earlier this year which showed that ethical fund sales on the platform are set to eclipse those of last year. We constantly strive to offer advisers more choice and opening out the range of ethical funds to include Co-operative Investments underlines that.”

Co-operative Investments is part of Co-operative Financial Services (CFS) which has managed retail funds for around 20 years and uses a distinctive responsible investment approach that integrates social, ethical and environmental (SEE) issues alongside financial consideration when selecting companies for investment. It believes the approach enables delivery of enhanced investment returns because sustainable business practice and strong long-term financial performance are so clearly linked.

While other fund management groups have taken up SRI in response to recent demand or simply ‘bolted on’ capability to their existing investment operation, SRI is embedded into CFS’ corporate culture and reflected in a number of unique investment credentials. It is the only UK fund manager to:

Apply a common core approach to responsible investment across all the funds it manages,

apply active engagement across all the funds it manages, and

feed valuable business insights gained from its engagement process back in to company analysis for investment purposes.

CFS was also the first investor to publish its entire UK voting record on its website in 2002, a practice set to be adopted by other fund management groups following the introduction of recent industry guidelines.

People from the investment industry will have an opportunity to hear more about Co-operative Investments approach to socially responsible investment in a webinar from Mike Fox - CIS Sustainable Leaders Trust fund manager - on Tuesday 25 September. Anyone interested can register for this event at co-operativeinvestments.co.uk.