Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long
as ever you can.

John Wesley

Ethical Investment

Read the NEW - JACEI 2010 Annual Report - Climate Change, The Challenge for Ethical Investment

Around £1billion of Methodist money is invested in stocks, shares, bonds and other schemes. This money comes from individual churches and circuits, as well as national funds. All the money is invested in line with ethical principles.

The Central Finance Board of the Methodist Church (CFB)

Methodists have their own investment agency, the CFB. It is the job of the CFB to manage the funds and get good returns on their investments whilst making sure that the investments are in line with the moral and ethical teaching of the Church – such as not investing in companies that profit from alcohol, gambling, pornography or the arms trade.

From their base in the City of London, the CFB is a Christian witness in the investment community. By acting as shareholders of major companies, including some listed on the FTSE-100, they can influence decisions and vote in shareholder meetings. This provides Methodists with a powerful voice at the heart of economic life in one of the world’s most important financial centres.

Recently the CFB have been working with BP, Coca-Cola and Rio Tinto about environment and human rights issues, and with Vodafone and the supply of pornography via mobile phones.

Joint Advisory Committee on the Ethics of Investment (JACEI)

To make sure that the CFB are working to the highest ethical standards, the Methodist Conference has set up JACEI, which is made up of five people nominated by the CFB and five by the Methodist Council. The Revd John Howard – Chair of the Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury District – is the Chair of JACEI.

You can read more about the work of JACEI in its annual report to the Methodist Conference. At Conference there is also an informal event where ethical investment can be discussed and leaflet is published that looks at some of the issues that JACEI has dealt with over the last year.

One of the most controversial and widely publicised recommendations that JACEI made was about Nestlé in 2006.

More information

Read the 2010 JACEI Annual Report - Climate Change, The Challenge for Ethical Investment

Read the 2009 JACEI leaflet- Ethical Investment in a Digital Age

Read the 2009 JACEI Annual Report

Central Finance Board
9 Bonhill Street, London EC2A 4PE
020 7496 3630 invest@cfbmethodistchurch.org.uk

Contact the Joint Advisory Committee on the Ethics of Investment
The Revd John Howard, JACEI Chair
Methodist Church House, 25 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5JR
020 7467 5245 jaceichair@methodistchurch.org.uk