ALPHA: r2 in the UK signs up to ethical data provider IdealRatings

ALPHA: r2, the managed portfolio service (MPS) available through Walker Crips for UK financial advisers and their clients, has entered into an exclusive arrangement with IdealRatings, the ethical data provider, to ensure all its portfolios are subject to an ethical screen.

Walker Crips will now adopt an explicit three-pronged Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) screen on all holdings in UK equities. ALPHA: r2 will seek to outperform its peers by focusing on companies with empirically good ESG scores, and will pay particular attention to those with demonstrably strong corporate governance. Its portfolios will also have the ability to screen companies for Sharia compliance and those which comply with the UN Global Compact.

ALPHA: r2’s managed portfolio service is designed to provide high quality relative outperformance, for a given level of risk and its model portfolios cover five risk/return profiles. The portfolios are closely aligned to the industry-standard WMA benchmarks, allowing them to fit seamlessly into advisers’ client profiling.

Gary Waite, portfolio manager at Walker Crips Investment Management, says: “There is a growing demand for ethical portfolios from clients and we are focused on a pragmatic ‘best-in-class’ approach. Evidence suggests that companies with a record of strong corporate governance outperform over the long term. This principle will be at the core of our investment process, along with a bias towards companies which are committed to sustainability and positive environmental change. By working together with the global leader in ESG data provision to integrate ESG fully into our core investment process, we believe we will vastly improve our capacity to deliver sustainable alpha for clients.”

Waite continued: “The long-term benefits of strong corporate governance are matched by today’s clients’ increasing interest in ESG principles. Advisers tell us that when they speak to their clients about investing, there is a growing willingness amongst their Generation X and Millennial clients to contribute to a more sustainable world for future generations – whilst also achieving attractive long-term returns.”

Mohamed Donia, IdealRatings CEO says: “IdealRatings is delighted to be partnering with ALPHA: r2 on its ethical investment initiative. We have been providing data, analysis and screening services for 10 years now. Our focus is entirely on supporting investment management companies, brokers and individual investors to ensure compliance with their ethical, sustainable and faith-based investment requirements. We firmly believe that the future of investment is best served by initiatives such as Walker Crips’ ALPHA: r2, where top quality investment management is combined with rigorous and detailed screening of companies for these criteria.

IdealRatings is known for providing ESG screening within the institutional market, but ALPHA: r2 is its first client within the UK retail market.

ALPHA: r2 has also announced it has become a member of the UK Sustainable and Finance Association (UKSIF), the membership network for sustainable and responsible financial services. ALPHA: r2 is managed by Gary Waite and Andrew Morgan of Walker Crips.

-Ends-

Media Enquiries: Four Broadgate