UKSIF praises Church of England for move away from Wonga

The UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF) has said they are pleased with the news that the Church of England has finally severed ties with payday lender Wonga.

UKSIF is a membership association for sustainable financial services and co-ordinates Good Money Week (formerly National Ethical Investment Week). Good Money Week is a campaign aimed at encouraging people to invest responsibly running from October 19–25.

UKSIF promotes green, ethical investment and chief executive Simon Howard said, “We’re pleased to see the church has been able to successfully divest from Wonga as UKSIF believes everyone should be free to reflect their values in their investments.”

“As we run up to Sustainable September and Good Money Week there will be lots of attention on this kind of topic. One of the things we will be saying is that considering what you feel to be ‘right’ or moral when investing is a) possible and b) doesn’t need to hurt returns,” he added.

Sustainable September is Blue and Green Tomorrow’s month-long sustainabily event, with debates happening on various dates throughout September.  A sustainable investment debate is taking place on September 23 and tickets can be bought here.

UKSIF thinks campaigns against unethical investments will continue to grow.

“Individuals and groups campaigning on specific investment issues, as they did with Wonga, is likely to be a growing feature of society’s engagement with their money and the finance industry. We hope that things change so that you don’t need to be an Archbishop to be heard and influence positive change,” said Howard.

Photo: Helen Cobain via Flickr

Further reading:

Church of England finally cuts ties with payday lender Wonga

Tickets on sale for Blue & Green Tomorrow’s Sustainable September events

Sustainable September: Royal Geographical Society to host Investment Debate

Church of England reduces exposure to ‘sin stocks’ after ethical investment review

Church of England votes in favour of reviewing fossil fuel investments