“So what was the actual catalyst for your latest little venture?” I asked the chairman of the insignificantly-sized investment company Kermitted Asset Management when I saw him last week. “I mean, I get what attracts you about ESG as an investment theme but …” “Spooky,” shuddered the chairman. “I’ve just had the most extraordinary sense of déjà vu.”
“I imagine it’s because that’s how I kicked off our previous conversation,” I said. “Since we got side-tracked by your innovative ‘If you scare them, they will come’ approach to investment marketing, however, we ran out of time – and I am still interested to know if there was one single factor that made you think, ‘Yes – this is reason enough to return to the wonderful world of investment for one last job’.”
“You make it sound like I’m planning a heist,” said the chairman, giving me a funny look. “But the first thing to stress is I never left the wonderful world of investment – I mean, it’s not as if I disappear into thin air just because you don’t come to visit. No – I was quietly overseeing our little family office when I realised not a day was going by without one of my former competition appointing a head of ESG or something similar.
More … enriching
“Now, obviously I didn’t get where I am today without spotting a trend but this one only catered to the supply side of fund management and I do tend to find the demand element a whole lot more … enriching. But then, last autumn, I came across this interesting little survey from the Department of International Development, called Investing in a Better World.
“It offers some great insights into consumer thinking on sustainable investment – all from a pretty solid sample size of 6,000-odd Brits. Better still, this included a ‘booster sample’ – such a lovely idea, don’t you think? – of 1,000 or so punters with at least £25,000 in investable assets. As you know, those are among my very favourite kind of potential investors and the headline findings indicated there really was a lot of potential.
“For example, the survey indicated half of those canvassed were interested in responsible and impactful investing, yet few people currently have responsible and impactful investments. Furthermore, it suggested two-thirds of people in the UK would like their investments to have a positive impact while more than half reckoned this would motivate them to invest more.
One last job?
“So, if you were looking for an exact moment, I suppose it was halfway through reading the survey that I knew.” “That it was time for one last job?” I smirked. “That my services were required by many, many more people than little Nicola, Adair and the rest of my immediate family,” the chairman said sternly. “I dropped everything and, within a week, Kermitted Asset Management had become a reality.”
“So you only read the headline findings?” I asked. “Ye-esss,” the chairman said, warily. “Why do you ask?” “It was just a couple of the details that caught my eye,” I replied. “One was actually on the same page as that line about people being interested in responsible and impactful investing yet few actually having any such investments.”
“And potential demand is good, right,” prompted the chairman. “Potentially,” I replied. “Except I couldn’t help but notice, in answer to ‘How interested are you in making responsible and impactful investments?’, a healthy 44% said they were interested to invest for the future but the percentage who replied they were both interested and able to invest not just in the future but today was a rather more anaemic 12%.
“Furthermore, when people were asked to rank 10 factors in terms of their importance in influencing any decision to invest or save, the impact an investment could have on the planet or on people were ranked eighth and ninth respectively, with no more than three out of 10 of those surveyed deeming them ‘important’. The top three, incidentally, were the rather more traditional financial risk, potential return and company reputation.
“Look, I’m not saying the demand won’t build but …” The chairman held up his hand. “Just when I thought I was out,” he sighed eventually, “they pull me back in.”
