Sustainable Investors React to EU Ref Results

The EU referendum results have revealed that Britain voted to leave the European Union. The final count showed that 52% voters were in favour of Brexit. Members of the UK’s sustainable investment sector, including the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF), EQ Investors, and WHEB, reacted to the EU referendum result this morning.

Simon Howard, Chief Executive of UKSIF, said: “This vote won’t change our focus on promoting sustainable finance in the UK and, in association with other stakeholders, internationally. The key issues the world faces, such as climate change and resource depletion transcend national boundaries and so will our approach. We will remain fully supportive members of Eurosif and the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance.” 

Going forward we will continue to work on behalf of UKSIF members to ensure that the UK maintains its leading global position in sustainable finance. In part this will mean continuing to work with other European SIFs to influence the EU on a combined basis, and part of that will be seeking to ensure that our members can continue to operate freely in the EU to the continuing benefit of their European clients.” 

Flavia Micilotta, Executive Director of Eurosif, said: “Eurosif will continue to provide the interface on EU policy-making for UK SIF members building on the history of strong collaborative work to date.  It will be important for Eurosif to support UK based members as any long term implications become clearer ensuring that the interests of the UK SRI industry are well represented in Brussels.”
EQ Investors (EQ), the boutique wealth manager led by John Spiers, founder of Best Invest, has issued a new blog in response to the Referendum.

Brexit: initial reaction – steering a steady course through short-term uncertainty can be found here.

The EQ blog outlines what Brexit means for client portfolios, what action EQ Investors is taking, and what happens next, including the possibility of a counter offer from Europe and the use of Article 50.

WHEB, sustainable investment company, posted a blog on its website stating that opinion polls were “misleading” and that as a result “stock and currency markets are experiencing significant volatility”. WHEB goes on to say it will continue to assess both risks and opportunities to achieve the best long-term value.

Read the full WHEB blog here.