On July 27, the president of the United States took aim on Twitter at an American city represented by a political foe.
Reacting to a Fox News segment containing footage of trash and vacant houses in West Baltimore, President Donald Trump said that “no human being would want to live there.” He labeled the predominantly black congressional district “a disgusting, rat and rodent-infested mess,” and said that it was “very dangerous” and “filthy.”
The Republican president also suggested, without providing evidence, that federal funds going to the district represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings were being stolen by local officials.
Critics of the president responded to his Tweets as “racist.”
Catherine Banat, managing director for responsible investing in the U.S. at Royal Bank of Canada Global Asset Management, had a different reaction to the president’s comments—she used them as the inspiration for a July 29 op-ed published in the Baltimore Sun that offered a financial remedy to the urban ills that beset the city.
Entitled “Baltimore Area Needs A Regional Economic Development Strategy,” Banat and her co-author, Patti Chandler, told readers that responsible investing was the constructive solution to turning around American cities such as Baltimore, not maligning them. She talked about linking community development organizations to national lending and addressing discriminatory policies that brought us here.
Earlier that month on July 11, Banat spoke with Financial Advisor in a telephone interview about ESG investing and how it can change both investors' and beneficiaries' lives.
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors are used to measure the sustainability and ethical impact of an investment in a company or business.
Banat expressed her belief that socially conscious investing can change people's hearts and minds through the money they spend and earn.
“People want to make a difference in the world, and they can do it by looking for investment opportunities that have a responsible investing lens,” Banat said. “From our perspective, that means integrating the ESG factor into securities selection and analysis, impact investing and, lastly, socially responsible investing, which is exclusionary.”