Sustainable Stock Exchanges Break Cover
October 20, 2010
The other day I was watching The Simpsons … I blame it on the kids, but thankfully they don’t always understand the bits I chuckle at.
Anyhow, the episode in question was “My Fair Laddy”, a wonderful rip of My Fair Lady complete with parodies which you feel ought to be violating copyright somewhere along the line.
For example, the elocution lesson: “The Snot .. From My Nose .. Shouldn’t Fall .. Upon My Clothes”. I know it’s a long way from Spain, but lets not get into a debate on elongated vowels here!
Now, a few weeks ago I read something (I forget what) about Aviva Investors agitating strongly for increased responsibility within companies. I think I reread it several times, just to make sure I’d understood correctly, looked genuinely surprised and made a mental note to look out for Aviva in the future.
Lo and behold, up they pop again, pressing for stockmarkets to include ESG criteria in their listing rules. Did you just reread that sentence? I know I reread the article several times, remembered to close my mouth and thought “well this I gotta see!”
The Swiss Dichotomy | CSR Around The World
September 27, 2010
The latest instalment in this occasional column concerns that most unique of countries, Switzerland.
All countries’ cultures are in one way or another influenced by their geography, but in Switzerland that influence is of paramount importance. The country sits at the centre of the Alps, the highest mountain range in Europe. The Alps are, in turn, a natural barrier between northern Europe and the Mediterranean, from which trade routes open up to Africa and Asia.
Humping goods through mountains is never a commercial dream come true (witness Hannibal and his elephants), so Switzerland will never be Route A. However because of its unique position at the junction between Europe’s uber-economies of France, Germany and Italy, Switzerland has made an excellent job of being Route B.
But where does this leave Swiss CSR in the modern, globalised trade context?
The Rush To Financial Literacy
April 22, 2010
Source: SmartFutures
In my last post I had a reference to Financial Literacy Education. In Europe this is known as Financial Capability. Many financial services companies are rushing to provide some type of financial education to existing and potential clients. What is behind the rush?
A number of developments converged to produce the 1000 year financial storm–
The global economic crisis, more complex investment choices and the shift of pension investment choices from the employer to the employee, when combined with widespread financial illiteracy, is causing increased stress among a significant number of the public.
Research suggests that 15–20 percent of employees have financial problems severe enough to negatively affect productivity. A financially stressed employee spends an average of 20 hours per month of work time on his/her personal financial problems.
The Case For Financial Education at the Workplace
The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
Too many people fail simple tests on the basics of compound interest and basic financial math. The result: poor financial decisions such as not investing in company-offered voluntary investment plans. This worsens individuals’ financial condition and puts their retirement at risk.
Many financial services companies, banks, credit unions and financial advisory firms are offering a variety of financial literacy education resources.
Some examples in the US
Bank Of America FINANCIAL TOOLS
Wells Fargo HANDS ON BANKING
CitiBank FINANCIAL CAPABILITY
Examples from Europe
Barclay’s BUILDING FINANCIAL CAPABILITY
Halifax MANAGING YOUR MONEY
Caixa Galicia SECURE YOUR FUTURE
Some are critical of these programs. They indicate the motivation is to restore the tarnished reputations of the financial services sector. Perhaps, but the educational services offered do assist in helping individuals to improve their knowledge of financial matters.
This subject is important enough to warrant additional posts in the future.
ANZ Bank, the Spirit and the Letter
March 4, 2010
I enjoy finding a corporate website that stands out from the crowd. My latest finding is ANZ, one of the largest companies in Australia and New Zealand, and a major international banking and financial services group.
The first section I always look for is About Us
The About Us landing page is comprehensive and well designed. Personally, I would like Corporate Governance to be more prominent, but it is available via the related links section from the landing page.
Once in Corporate Governance, let’s look at what is displayed in this section.
At the top is this statement–
In relation to corporate governance, ANZ’s Board seeks to:
- embrace principles and practices it considers to be best practice internationally;
- be an ‘early adopter’, where possible, by complying before a published law or recommendation takes effect; and
- take an active role in discussions regarding the development of corporate governance best practice and associated regulation in Australia and overseas.
The second and third bulletpoints are remarkable. This is a company that wants to go beyond the “letter of the law”.
The Corporate Governance section Is very comprehensive; however you have to download PDFs to access the information. Regular readers will know that I would prefer the information to be displayed online with PDF as another option. A must see is the the Continuous Compliance Policy (PDF) which is an explanation of the company’s objective of going beyond Compliance Regulations.
Another interesting element of this site is the Our Company section that is actually the detailed About Us section, and quite a good one at that.
Click on Our Businesses and you get a more detailed description of functional and geographic areas of the company.
View Management to obtain a comprehensive background on senior managers.
Select Our Profile to learn more about the company’s strategy, and more.
A noteworthy section nestled within the Corporate Responsibility section is the company’s commitment to enhancing Financial Literacy. This subject is getting global attention due to the demise of personal pensions and the worldwide economic crisis. The company offers extensive education.
In partnership with some of the most trusted community organisations in Australia and New Zealand, ANZ has developed a number of programs that address issues of financial literacy and inclusion. Find out more about our programs:
- MoneyMinded – an adult financial literacy education program
- Saver Plus – a matched savings program for people on low incomes
- Progress Loans – a program offering small loans to people on low incomes
- MoneyBusiness – a program to improve levels of financial literacy in indigenous communities
Action on financial literacy and inclusion doesn’t only help the community – it helps ANZ too. Find out why.
This commendable suite of programs deserves to be prominently displayed on the homepage. (More about financial literacy in future posts).
But most interesting is the desire to go beyond “the letter” of compliance to “the spirit” of best practice.
What Makes for Effective Investor Relations Sites? Part 4: Share Price Charts
October 20, 2009
Last week we focused on immediate share price information and today we will be looking at stock charts. At its very basic, a stock chart should clearly convey the price history of a stock over a defined period of time. So at a minimum, a line chart over the past year with a clearly defined axis showing the price is what investors can expect. Most companies also include a volume chart below the share price. Scottish and Southern Energy has a nice example of this simple approach and I’ve reproduced it below.
You will note that the charting page for Scottish and Southern Energy also includes a selection tool that allows investors to select the time period that they wish to view, ranging from intraday to five years in length.
This is the next iteration of choice for price charts and very helpful for someone thinking about purchasing the stock.
Taking it one step further, some companies also allow user selected dates to define the beginning and end of the chart. This makes sense for people who already own the stock as chances are most investors did not buy the stock on the one, two or five year anniversary of their looking at the chart.
A good example of this capability is the chart of Friends Provident Group, reproduced below, where I’ve arbitrarily chosen to look at the share price performance since the beginning of the year 2000.
A close inspection of the chart will also show that investors have the capability to chart against other companies (in this case, up to eight pre-selected companies), indexes and sectors.
As an investor, this is useful, because you always want to know “Compared to what?” however, it probably comes under the “Nice to have“ category as opposed to essential information.
Finally, a feature I really like, but which I don’t see that often, is illustrated on the chart from ENI. (If you really want to see a well-executed investor site, visit ENI’s site www.eni.it.)
Click image to enlarge
They have overlain their interactive chart with indicators of the release of corporate information. For example, by scrolling over April 24, 2009, you are able to see that the rise in their stock price coincided with the release of ENI’s first quarter 2009 results.
I find this particularly helpful when I look at a large rise or fall on a stock price chart as it often helps me understand what may have been causing the movement.
In this series:
Previous post: Share price information
Next post: Historical share price data
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