As a mutual insurer it pays to be responsible
As a mutual insurer it pays to be responsible
Having a membership interested in ethical matters certainly helps to keep UIA's socially responsible investment strategy up to date, UIA's Financial Director, Andrew Gay recently explained.
There are two reasons that prompted UIA to invest in a socially responsible way. It was clear from our focus groups that socially responsible investment was something that our members believed in, and secondly it represents a perfect fit with UIA's heritage and culture. In line with "Insurance with principles", we will always first look towards an ethical approach in our business dealings. In 2000, when socially responsible investment was becoming big news, there was plenty in the press saying that this style of investment wouldn't perform as well as traditional investment avenues, but this has not turned out to be the case. There has been no loss of investment performance attributable to the adoption of our socially responsible investment policies.
We carry out frequent customer research to ensure that the concerns of our members are reflected in our investment policies. As well as this, I get plenty of questions, suggestions and recommendations from individual members - they take a real interest in our policies. For example during 2007 when the government clamped down on protests in Burma I had letters asking me to clarify whether UIA was involved with any companies operating in that country. I was able to tell them that we weren't.
Recent media attention has shown that many large companies have difficulties policing their supply chains. However through audit work, research and meetings undertaken by our fund managers, we can provide reasonable assurance that the companies in which we invest are living up to their ethical claims. If something untoward comes to light, we will act quickly to ensure the problem is fixed, and if it isn't we will disinvest.
You can take a look at UIA's investment policy on our website, or please send your questions to Andrew at UIA, Kings Court, London Road, Stevenage SG1 2TP