Invest for good 

Tobacco, coal and gambling are out and so is Amazon when it comes to a new responsible investment fund.

Auckland based boutique fund manager Pathfinder has launched a Global Responsibility Fund and is taking a tough stance on where it invests.

John Berry, chief executive of Pathfinder Asset Management, said as well as excluding the typical nasties the fund uses a controversy rating system and only picks those with high environmental, social and governance (ESG) scores.

Investors are being told it's a myth that putting their money into socially and environmentally friendly investments will cost them.

The amount of New Zealanders' money invested in negatively screened funds – those that avoid certain investments, such as tobacco or land mines – increased 2500 per cent last year, to hit $42.7 billion.

But some investors are still reluctant to shift their money to responsible options - assuming that to do so would cost them returns.

Banks are "only ever" going to promote the good that they do, but brokers can "effect change" by educating clients about ethical lenders, a broker has said.

Karen Doust, associate and broker at Jenesis Finance, told The Adviser that brokers can have a role in enacting positive change by placing business with ethical lenders.

Jenesis Finance has a mandate to offer clients a panel of "ethical and sustainable lenders" that are "community minded and/or are operating in an environmentally conscious manner".

Ms Doust said that more often than not, these lenders are smaller banks, credit unions or non-bank lenders.