Australian Ethical Investment

Australian Ethical is an ethical investment management company, listed on the ASX, and based in Sydney, Australia.

History

Australian Ethical was founded in 1986,[4] and since then, has been providing investors with investment management products that align with their values and provide returns aligned to the objectives of each fund. All investments are guided by the Australian Ethical Charter which shapes its ethical approach and underpins both its culture and its vision.

On 17 Dec 2002 Australian Ethical was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) as AEF.[5]

In 2014 the company became a founding B Corporation (B Corp)[6] in Australia and the first listed B Corp in the region.[7] It was awarded the B Corp "Best for the World" ranking it in the top 5% of B Corps globally (in the corresponding size group) in various categories in the years 2015–2019 and 2021–2022.

Products and services

Australian Ethical is a pure-play ethical investment manager, only offering ethical funds across Australian Equities, International Equities and Multi-asset funds. It offers seven superannuation[11] and six pension[12] options to its members as well as fifteen managed funds[13] options, an SMA[14] and an ETF[15] product.

Australian Ethical was one of the first superannuation companies in Australia to sell super directly to customers using a digital marketing approach, and now also sells managed funds directly, as well as through a network of advisers and private wealth firms. They also have a small institutional business providing managed funds to organisations, largely not-for-profit and values-aligned.

Their ethical investing approach[16] aims to: Their investment process involves:

Give investors access to ethically screened portfolios of companies and other investments which are more aligned with their values than market portfolios.

Influence progress towards a better future for people, animals and the environment by engaging with select companies to improve key business practices.

Help them identify, understand and manage investment risk and opportunity, at a company, portfolio and systemic level.

Ethical assessment – the in-house Ethical Research team assess possible investments according to the 23 principles of the Ethical Charter, using the contemporary decision frameworks (and criteria) that bring these to life. This process identifies companies that Australian Ethical believe can influence progress towards a better future for people, animals and the environment and restricts those that they believe aren’t; and this research defines their universe of potential ethical investments.

Investment analysis and construction – Australian Ethical’s investment team then constructs portfolios suitable for the investment strategies and return objectives of funds and options. Their investment strategy results in equity and multi-asset funds that are overweight versus benchmark in renewables, technology and healthcare with on average 4.1x more investment in renewable energy than the benchmark.[17]

Ethical stewardship[18] – The ethics research team also monitors investee companies and engage to influence companies, governments and others as an important part of the process. As an investor they can encourage companies to create more positive impact and avoid negative impact in different ways – sometimes a simple discussion with management works. But they can also encourage change by:

voting for changes to directors and executive remuneration more aligned with sustainable business strategies

collaborating with other investors to signal shared expectations for more responsible business practices

type	Public
traded as	asx: AEF
key people	John McMurdo (CEO)‡R1R‡ Mark Simons (CFO) Ludovic Theau (CIO)
industry	Financial Services
products	Superannuation, Pensions, Managed funds, SMA, ETF
revenue	A$100.5 million (Y.E. 30 June 2024)‡R2R‡
aum	A$14.28 billion (2025)‡R3R‡
num employees	100+
foundation	1986
location	130 Pitt St, Sydney, Australia
homepage	australianethical.com.au

Australian Ethical Investment

History

Products and services

Community giving

External links

References