Pathfinder Wins At Ethical Investment Awards

Out of 48 entries, Ethical fund manager Pathfinder won two categories at the Mindful Money Awards. The categories won by Pathfinder:

• Best Ethical KiwiSaver Fund Provider

• Best New Ethical Fund (for the Pathfinder Ethical Growth Fund)

Pathfinder was also highly commended in one further category - the Best Ethical Retail Investment Fund Provider.

Pathfinder CEO John Berry said “we’re very excited. This validates our team’s work over the last decade to become leaders in ethical investment and positively impact our planet and people.”

Paul Brownsey, Head of Investments at Pathfinder, explained that Pathfinder’s KiwiSaver investments include in:

• Sir John Kirwan’s mental health business (Mentemia)

• a $300 million solar energy project (Lodestone)

• microfinance of women entrepreneurs in South East Asia and

• social housing

Pathfinder’s KiwiSaver reflects a unique social enterprise model partnering with 17 charities. 20% of management fees are shared across this charity family, as determined by Pathfinder’s KiwiSaver members. Berry says “this is a unique model. While we want to generate the best possible financial returns for our investors, we want to achieve this with an ethical focus. And at the same time, we want to provide long-term sustainable and passive income streams for the charities supported by our members.”

Outside of KiwiSaver, Brownsey noted that Pathfinder’s Global Water Fund, which invests in companies helping solve the world’s water crisis, has generated 10 per cent per annum returns since it was set up over a decade ago. “You can do good and make good returns” he explains.

Berry added that investing ethically is “an unstoppable long-term shift not only in New Zealand but across the globe. People have long understood that how they spend their consumer dollar has real world impacts - now they’re realising that the same applies to investing. How we each choose to invest our part of the collective $80 billion in KiwiSaver really matters. Investors are choosing ethical options. Ethical investing is not a fad, this is the future.”

In March, the B-Corp certified fund manager became the first in New Zealand to offer carbon-neutral KiwiSaver funds.

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