Ethical fund advisers agree merger

Ethical fund advisers agree merger

Two of the biggest firms of independent financial advisers which specialise in ethical and socially responsible investment are to merge.

Manchester-based Gaeia Partnership will merge with East Sussex-based Bromige and Co, one of the earliest pioneers of ethical investment, formed in 1979.

Brigid Benson, founder of Gaeia, said: "Teaming up with Bromige will help to underpin the stability of both organisations and allow us to operate even more effectively for people who want their money to work for change."

The market for socially responsible investments has grown rapidly in recent years, with £4.2bn invested in ethical funds by 470,000 individuals. Sales of ethically-marketed goods is also surging ahead, rising to £6.9bn last year.

This week Cooperative Bank said it turned away business worth £6.6m last year because of its ethical stance.

The Manchester-based group said the value of business lost because it refused to provide banking services to certain companies was nearly 58% higher than it had been the previous year.

It said it lost £709,500 by refusing to deal with firms that supplied arms to oppressive regimes, up from £242,000 the year before, while the cost of turning away business for animal welfare reasons jumped to £556,500 from £158,000.

But at the same time the group estimated that up to 30% of its £130m pre-tax profits could be attributed to its ethical and.....continued below

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ecological stance, up from 24% the previous year.

Co-operative Bank spokesman Simon Williams says:"These figures clearly demonstrate that, whilst our ethical stance clearly leads to lost business, the customer value analysis shows that it has a very positive impact on our overall profits.

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