P1 Investment Management (P1) has taken the unconventional step of appointing a wholly external, ethical oversight committee, to guide it on ethical and sustainable investment topics and policies. P1 is an adviser-led, ethically focused, discretionary fund manager and will be one of only a handful of wealth managers and fund houses in the UK to open itself to this external examination.

The Ethical Oversight Committee will review ethical and sustainability processes, issues and topics posed to them by P1’s investment team to ensure that every fund P1 selects is strongly ethical while still seeking to achieve excellent returns for investors.

P1’s Ethical Oversight Committee will meet regularly, engage on ethical and sustainability issues, raise difficult questions, query decisions and really dig into the ethical process.

The Ethical Oversight Committee combined with P1’s proprietary research will ensure that P1 only selects funds that meet high standards and avoids those funds that are “greenwashed” and merely seek an ethical label for marketing purposes.

All three members of the oversight committee are experts in their field, they are:

• DrPeter Walton, a Knowledge Exchange Research Fellow in the UK Climate Impact Programme, which helps organisations and governments adapt to the changing climate.  Peter’s growing research interest is in how the science of extreme event attribution can used by decision makers as part of the adaptation planning process.
• Professor Grzegorz Trojanowski, a professor of finance and director of Xfi Centre for Finance and Investment at the University of Exeter Business School. Grzegorz’sresearch interests include corporate finance, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility and international business.
• Mr Andrew Willoughby, a co-founder of the Lismore Employment Development Agency, the Lismore Business Enterprise Centre, the Community Housing Investment Group and the Lismore Rainforest Botanical Gardens amongst others. He has provided advice to No 10 Downing St and training courses for the NHS, London City Council staff, schools and corporations.

James Priday

P1 takes ethical and sustainable investing extremely seriously.  It employs staff with formally recognised qualifications in ethical and sustainable investment and truly understands the issues and challenges surrounding ethical investment. The Ethical Oversight Committee has been appointed to deepen this commitment.

Even with this high level of scrutiny and due diligence, P1 provides both ethical bespoke and model portfolios at an incredibly competitive cost at only 0.40% for account values of up to £1million and just 0.1% thereafter.

Dr Quintin Rayer, Head of Ethical and Sustainable Investing says, “At P1 we took the decision to develop an external ethical oversight committee because, while we pride ourselves on our ethical and sustainable credentials as a company and in our investment due diligence and portfolios; oversight is an important part of governance. We have engaged experts in relevant fields (environmental, social, governance) to ensure we continue to push the industry and ourselves to better standards, eliminate complacency and continually drive for improvement. At P1 we believe ethical investing isn’t just a ‘nice to have’, it’s essential, and we’re determined to make a difference.”

James Priday, managing director at P1 Investment Management says, “The appointment of the Ethical Oversight Committee sets P1 apart for advisers to find truly ethical funds for clients investing with their consciences. There are too many funds out there which lead investors to believe that they are investing ethically, but when you dig beneath the surface they are little more than greenwashed.

“Ethical investing is something that we take incredibly seriously at P1. Positive investment can help support and control companies’ behaviour by rewarding those companies working to address problems and reducing access to capital for others with unethical practices. Clients who take steps to invest ethically and address these problems deserve to know that their funds are working towards ethical and sustainable objectives and are not just a marketing ploy.”