Australian Ethical Investment today announced it is expanding its high-performing product suite with the launch of the Australian Ethical Emerging Companies Fund, as well as introducing a range of enhancements to its existing products to make them more accessible.
Launch of Emerging Companies Fund
Australian Ethical Investment Managing Director, Phil Vernon said the new Australian Ethical Emerging Companies Fund provides investors another choice to ethically invest their money in a diversified portfolio of shares in micro and small capitalisation companies.
“It leverages the deep expertise of our investment team and 20-year track record in managing small cap stocks within our Australian Shares Fund (previously the Smaller Companies Trust),” said Mr Vernon.
As with the complete suite of Australian Ethical’s managed funds, the new fund will reflect Australian Ethical’s unique investment approach which is, and has been since its inception, guided by its Ethical Charter.
Product enhancements
Australian Ethical is also making a number of changes to its products to deliver greater accessibility for investors and advisers:
Lower investment thresholds
“To allow more people to access the benefits of ethical investing, we’re lowering our minimum investment amount for our retail funds to $1,000. For those investors with a regular investment plan, they can access the retail funds for an initial investment of just $500,” said Mr Vernon.
mFunds listing
Most of Australian Ethical’s products will also soon be listed on the new mFunds platform of the ASX, providing improved access for both financial advisers and investors.
Increased wholesale range
Australian Ethical’s range of products with wholesale classes has also increased to include the International Shares Funds and the Cash Funds.
Product alignment
Product names have been changed to create greater consistency and to better align to industry practice.
| Current product name | Post 1 July 2015 |
| Australian Ethical Smaller Companies Trust | Australian Ethical Australian Shares Fund |
| Australian Ethical Larger Companies Trust | Australian Ethical Diversified Shares Fund |
| *NEW* | Australian Ethical Emerging Companies Fund |
| Australian Ethical Advocacy Fund | *No change* |
| Australian Ethical International Equities Trust | Australian Ethical International Shares Fund |
| Australian Ethical Balanced Trust | Australian Ethical Balanced Fund |
| Australian Ethical Fixed Interest Trust | Australian Ethical Fixed Interest Fund |
| Australian Ethical Cash Trust | Australian Ethical Cash Fund |
“Australian Ethical’s funds have regularly delivered top-quartile performance. Our track record shows that ethical investing is the right thing to do, and the smart thing to do,” said Mr Vernon.
“We believe these enhancements to our product suite position our investors to reap the rewards of ethical and responsible investments, and help us continue on our path of accelerated growth in this space,” said Mr Vernon.
Continued strong business growth
“Our strong and consistent long-term performance hasn’t come about by chance. Rigorous investment discipline combined with uncompromising ethical commitment has led to significantly increased demand from investors for our ethical investment products,” said Mr Vernon. “We continue to be focused on our position as a pioneer and industry leader in the responsible and ethical investing space. We do this by continuing to review and enhance our product suite and capitalising on where we believe we can deliver the best outcomes for our investors,” said Mr Vernon.
Australian Ethical’s growth in funds under management continues to defy industry averages, reaching a milestone of $1 billion in funds under management in November last year. Recently, its Australian Shares Fund (previously the Smaller Companies Trust) won the Responsible Investments category at the 2015 Money Management awards.
Source: Australian Ethical
