South Africa Urges Investors to Consider Social Issues When Placing Money
South Africa released a draft code for responsible investing that aims to encourage investors to take environmental and social issues into account when deciding where to place their money.
Institutional investors and the wider public will have until Oct. 31 to comment on the proposals, John Oliphant, the head of investments and actuarial services at the Government Employees Pension Fund, said in a statement today.
The code “is the next step in ensuring institutional investors actually implement policies that guide their day to day actions when it comes to responsible investing,” Oliphant said.
In 2006, the United Nations introduced the Principles of Responsible Investing. Those guidelines aimed to “integrate environmental, social and governance issues” into investors’ decision-making process, Oliphant said. The U.K. is the only other country with a code for institutional investors.
Among the principles promoted is the development of a policy for the disclosure of voting records, according to the statement.
Oliphant is the chairman of the Committee on Responsible Investing by Institutional Investors in South Africa which includes Old Mutual Plc, the JSE Ltd., Investec Asset Management Ltd., Element Investment Managers, the Institute of Directors of South Africa and the Public Investment Corp.
To contact the reporter on this story: Nicky Smith in Johannesburg at nsmith38@bloomberg.net
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