If you care about how farm animals are treated, Folio has launched a new screen to help investors take animal care into consideration while building their portfolios.
Teaming with the Humane Society of the United States, Folio can now screen out companies involved with factory farms, which have come under increasing criticism from animal rights advocates for the overcrowding and mistreatment of their livestock.
“We are very interested in allowing people to invest in a way that alligns with their values,” said Greg Vigrass, president of Folio Institutional. “Working with filters for investments has always been in our DNA and we recently stepped up the commitment.”
The Humane Society maintains a list of firms that engage in factory farming. Folio can cross reference investors’ portfolios with that list to screen out the firms that use factory farms. Folio uses a number of screens that investors can use to incorporate their philosophies into their investing, Vigrass said.
The screens can also be used so that investors do not become overconcentrated in a particular industry or market. More screens can be added any time advisors and investors show an interest.
“We have seen a tremendous growth in SRI (sustainable, responsible, impact investing) and ESG (environmental, social and governance investing) both in the industry and on our platform,” said Vigrass.
Morgan Stanley is experiencing the same trend. “We are seeing evidence that investors are increasingly looking to financial service providers” to help them hone their investments to fit their philosophy, says Eva Zlotnicka, a Morgan Stanley analyst covering global sustainable and responsible investing research.
“Also trending now, companies are disclosing more information about their supply chains and more analysis is being done around sustainability issues,” she said.
More food companies are paying attention to animal welfare issues and where their food comes from, which casts a favorable light on their performance outlook, Morgan Stanley said in a recent report.
When companies pay attention to animal welfare issues, it can be an indicator of how much companies pay attention to other governance and sustainability questions, the firm said.