Coutts to stop investing in Russian assets

Given the tragic and terrible events in Ukraine, our Asset Management Investment Committee has decided to actively divest from Russian assets.

As a B Corp, committed to seeking profit with purpose, we have a duty to ensure our environmental, social and governance (ESG) tenets are embedded across everything we do. This decision has been made with those principles front of mind.

HOW WE'RE DOING IT

Exposure to Russian assets in a typical balanced portfolio was around 0.1% of portfolio value, but we’re looking to bring that down to zero. We’ll do this in line with clients’ best interests and when liquidity allows.

On 4 March 2022 we removed Russian assets from our investable universe. In practice this means that we’ll remove all existing funds with predominantly Russian exposure from portfolios and suspend any future purchases of Russian securities. Our index tracking funds will also gradually remove Russian assets in line with the country’s exclusion from several stock index providers.

Where we can’t directly control exposure in the external global funds we invest in, we’ll engage with them at the highest level to reduce their investment in Russian assets, as well as on issues such as workers’ rights, environmental responsibility and due diligence.

DOING WELL BY DOING GOOD

As a responsible investor, this is the right move as we continue to invest on behalf of our clients with a clear sense of purpose. We’ll continue to monitor events and stand ready to make any further changes if necessary.

For more information, please contact your private banker.