CIFSC Responsible Investment Identification

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - October 7, 2020) - The Canadian Investment Funds Standards Committee (CIFSC) is proposing to adopt a framework to identify Canadian investment funds that sufficiently practice responsible investing (RI). The demand for responsible investments continues to grow worldwide as the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance reported that sustainable investment assets reached $30.7 trillion globally in 2018 and the Responsible Investment Association reported that responsible investment assets surpassed $2 trillion in Canadian investment funds.

The CIFSC's goal is to meet the need for an objective, comprehensive list of Canadian responsible investment funds. CIFSC Chair, Reid Baker, believes the committee is well positioned to accomplish this goal because of the committee's members and long history of providing objective asset based categorization. "Because the CIFSC's membership is comprised of the major data providers, investment fund research firms, and industry organizations in Canada, we cover almost the entire universe of retail investment funds in Canada. We have been doing asset based categories for more than 20 years, to the point where the industry relies on the committee for unbiased and logical fund categorization."

The proposed framework would identify the responsible investment approach(es) used by the fund. The five identifiable approaches will be consistent with RI groupings used in Canada and globally: 1) Environmental, Social and Governance Evaluation and Integration 2) Thematic Investing 3) Exclusionary Investing 4) Impact Investing 5) Shareholder Engagement. To view the full proposal please click here: http://www.cifsc.org/news-alerts/

Initially the framework will only consider regulatory and marketing materials in identifying responsible funds, but the CIFSC is working to develop a quantitative evaluation that would be integrated into the framework. The CIFSC believes that a quantitative assessment is necessary to improve the transparency of the process and the accountability of the funds.

Following this release, there will be a 60 day comment period. Comments will be received through the CIFSC website here: http://www.cifsc.org/contact/.

For more information on the CIFSC please visit www.cifsc.org.

Contact: Reid Baker
Chair, Canadian Investment Funds Standards Committee
Director, Analytics & Data, Fundata
Phone: 416-445-5443 ext. 240
reid.baker@fundata.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/65338