State Street and Friend Ivory & Sime in SRI alliance

Pirkko Juntunen - 26 Sep 2001

State Street Bank and Friends Ivory & Sime have joined forces to provide
index-tracking funds with a socially responsible investments (SRI)
overlay.

The strategic alliance between the two UK-based investment houses has been
set up to offer UK pension funds with a greater choice of passive strategies, allowing institutional investors to pursue social, environmental
and ethical objectives.

This is the first time Friends Ivory & Sime's Responsible Engagement Overlay
(REO) programme has been applied to index funds, allowing SSgA clients
to participate in the SRI overlay across its UK and international fund
range.

Under REO, Friends Ivory & Sime's 10-strong SRI team works with companies to
encourage them to become more socially responsible rather than not investing
in them. The programme has so far attracted £20bn (EUR31.9bn).

The programme was introduced by Friends Ivory & Sime in preparation for
changes in the Pensions Act which required pension fund trustees to state
their policy on social, environmental and ethical issues.

SSgA has over $727bn (EUR788bn) in assets under management and $6.1 trillion
in assets under custody. Friends Ivory & Sime manages around £34.8bn.