Uniting Financial Services in Sydney, Australia | Investing service

Uniting Financial Services

Locality: Sydney, Australia

Address: L10, 222 Pitt Street 2000 Sydney, NSW, Australia

Website: http://www.unitingfinancial.com.au

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23.01.2022 Sharing this message from the Pulse team, ahead of the HSC. UFS is happy to have contributed in a small way to the support of our students: Hello! 2020 has been a challenging year for everyone not least of which our year 12 students. Their world and major exams have been turned upside down and inside out through the effects of the Coronavirus.... I write as a part of the PULSE team to encourage congregations to rise to the challenge in supporting our senior high school students as they enter into this vital exam period, and I’d like to offer a number of ways you and your congregation can get directly involved: 1) PRAY every day for the Year 12s in your congregation and within your community. Pray for peace amidst chaos and confusion; pray for clarity of mind and quick retention of important information; and pray for a calming of their nerves and anxieties. 2) REMIND them they are not defined by their results that their value is much more than how well they do in their exams, however that their close attention to these exams will assist them as they make choices about university and beyond. 3) ENCOURAGE them to go to the PULSE Facebook page every weekday morning at 7am during the exam period for https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/mnHTCL7rLgUv8JxsB_QcP HSC prayers. The PULSE team, along with a range of School and University chaplains, will be present to take prayer requests and offer some corporate care for Year 12s across the state. 4) BLESS your Year 12s with a hamper of goodies to help get them through this exam period. Your hamper might include some lollies, energy drink, bottled water, chips, nut/trail mix, as well as personal notes of support from members of your congregation. Aim to put these together and deliver them by Monday 19 October the day before the HSC exams start. (Alternatively, connect with your local high school principal and see if there’s an opportunity to work together with the school to support students perhaps a breakfast of sausages, bacon, eggs on the bbq or something. Be creative!) As a part of your hampers PULSE have been able to gain sponsorship for a small number of packages (200 total) to add into your hampers, including a $10 voucher from the Coffee Club thanks to UFS and a $50 voucher from streaming service Stan. We’d love to offer these to you to add to your hampers for your Year 12s please contact Joyce, Ofa or Molk to let us know how many you need and we’ll get them to you as quickly as we can. Thank you for your continued love, care and support of the young people in your church and community. Grace, peace and love, Molk.

22.01.2022 Our ED provided the following comment on the attached article about ethical investing: The Uniting Church wrote its ethical investment policy not long after it came into existence as a denomination, which was in 1977. I have an original of the first version from 1980 in my drawer at work. The principles have not changed in over 40 years. They get looked at and reviewed regularly, but they are as fresh and relevant as they were back then - probably a benefit of basing them on ...beliefs dating back a couple of thousand years in the first place! What has changed - and I will take some credit for this since I became the Executive Director of UFS nearly 6 years ago - is that the policy now has a stronger emphasis on positive outcomes. Exclusions are still there, as the Church doesn't want to profit from certain kinds of activity so just won't invest in them, but we now also look to invest in companies and securities that deliver a positive social or environmental benefit. There is an asymmetry in a sense. While we're prepared to miss out on market-beating returns if an excluded company does very well financially, we don't invest in positive programs just for the sake of it. (The Church does plenty of that in its normal day to day activities, but not in the investment portfolios that we manage.) We look for attractive financial outcomes from the positive investments - either in an above-average expected return or a reasonable return, but from a structure that provides correlation/diversification benefits to the portfolio. Interestingly, the 14 ethical principles in our policy align very closely with the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN. We're well positioned, therefore, to be measuring our investments in an SDG framework. It seems that the rest of the world is catching up with the Church at last as the SDGs are becoming the universal language of responsible investment. So, to address the question in the title of the article - I'd say that ethical investing always demands answers that are not fluffy. Clear principles, that are in the manager's DNA and not just a box-ticking thing, embedded in the investment decision-making in combination with strong financial investment criteria are always needed. Yes, our ethics mightn't be someone else's. But if the ethics you're embedding in the portfolio are clearly stated, then people can either get on board or go somewhere else. (And by the way, UFS investments are available for wholesale investors - both fixed term debentures that are liabilities on our balance sheet and units in our managed funds. If anyone's interested in finding out more, you can find me on LinkedIn and send a message.) https://www.firstlinks.com.au/when-ethical-investing-demand See more

22.01.2022 We couldn't help but notice this headline, which highlights two companies that have been carefully watched by the Synod's Ethical Investments Monitoring Committee in recent years. Harvey Norman has been on the excluded investments list for some time because of practices such as inducing low income earners into costly financial arrangements. InvoCare is not excluded, but is on the watch list, because of the questionable nature of much of its marketing, which plays on people's emotions when they are in a very vulnerable situation. https://www.abc.net.au//choice-hands-shonky-award/12865280

20.01.2022 This is a story of how the work of the Uniting Church impresses people, with interesting results. A colleague of ours, Yves Stening, who's done some leadership training with the team at UFS, contacted me recently with an interesting dilemma. He needed to give away 6,000 children's books. But first, some background. Yves is a creative chap. As well as corporate communications and leadership training, he's an actor and an author. So good are his children's books, Dinner Detecti...ves, that he won an international competition to turn them into a TV cartoon series. He's working on that now. Anyway, Yves called me about the 6,000 books he has in storage. In Los Angeles. Yves wanted to give these books away to needy children and rang me because he loves the work he sees the Uniting Church doing. So he asked if I could put him in touch with our equivalent in LA. A few emails later, with the Synod's Tara Curlewis involved, and connections were made. Then, last night, the books were delivered to Arthur Cribbs, at the Filipino American United Church of Christ in LA, for distribution to kids from low income families. Amazed how this sort of thing has happened. Good on you, Uniting Church, for the many ways you make a Jesus-shaped difference in the world. https://www.dinnerdetectives.com.au/

17.01.2022 There's been a huge outcry about Rio's wanton destruction of aboriginal heritage sites, including from across the investment industry. I shared the Ethical Investment Monitoring Committee's decision (see previous post on this page) to LinkedIn as well and it's been viewed over 4,000 times with a record number of affirmative responses and comments (record number for me, that is). Now the encouraging news that BHP is 'getting it' and has made a decision worth acknowledging. They're still on our excluded list, but this decision is a good one. Investor pressure amounts to something. https://www.abc.net.au//bhp-halts-aboriginal-site/12345566

17.01.2022 Coronavirus update Further to our post of 16 March, along with the rest of the Synod's Pitt Street offices, UFS is now working entirely remotely. Because of our business continuity arrangements, you can still deal with us in the usual way except that the office is now closed and physical visits to our staff members are no longer possible. This arrangement will be in place at least until the end of April, with the Synod Leadership Team and the UFS senior leaders group continui...ng to monitor the situation. Clearly, the coronavirus situation has become more serious in our State and country over the past couple of weeks and significant steps are required to bring it under control. Please everyone, the call to love our neighbours right now is not a call to hug them. It's a call to smile at them from a distance of at least 1.5 metres and speak kindly to them. But the only way our society is going to stop the rampant spread of this virus and save many lives is by staying at home, minimising normal interactions with others and being vigilant about your hygiene. God bless, grace and peace to all our valued partners in the Church.

17.01.2022 What have you been reading during COVID19? Our ED has gone back to one of his favourites and written the attached article, reflecting on some of its themes in the context of our current shared experience. https://www.insights.uca.org.au/there-and-back-again/

16.01.2022 Long time since we posted a Friday funny, but we all need something to smile about right now, don't we?

14.01.2022 Who's leading the world in relation to key ethical issues such as climate change? It's the global investment community. This article, about a local issue here in Australia, is just one of many about how private capital is NOT investing in fossil fuels, but rather investing in renewables. UFS has been doing that for years now, doing our bit for the Synod's climate action plans. The last sentence of the article sums it up: "The future is clear. Investment is flooding into renewable energy while the gas industry is contracting and bleeding red ink. We should not continue to prop up a failing and loss-making gas industry. The Narrabri gas project should be rejected." https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au//australia-is-sponsoring-

10.01.2022 Reminder - as Billy Thorpe once sang, it's almost summer, so this Saturday night (well, 2 am on Sunday to be strictly correct) it's time to turn our clocks forward an hour. https://www.youtube.com/watch

09.01.2022 A message from the Chief Risk Officer of UFS, Michael Noakes: I came across this article last night, and thought it was a great example of how the bad guys are taking advantage of us working from various locations. We have been great adopters of Zoom, and this has really helped us stay in touch and continue to do our jobs effectively. This article is about Microsoft Teams, however the principles are the same. Please stay vigilant in entering your password. If in doubt, pause,...Continue reading

08.01.2022 This post has nothing to do with finance. I (Warren) just loved this short discussion about the 4 most famous notes in musical history and so, since we haven't posted anything here for a while, I decided to share it with you. UFS is still here, still going strong thanks to the mighty efforts of all the team, to whom I'm deeply thankful. May all of you - our partners and our people - be as strong and defiant as Beethoven was when he wrote the opening to his 5th. https://www.facebook.com/abc.classic/videos/594967467892006/UzpfSTEwMDAxMTc3MDY1MzIxNjoxMDAyMjA0ODkzNTE1MTkw/

07.01.2022 Today was going to be when the UFS leadership team went on the second of our planned visits to bushfire affected areas. We should have been on our way to Tumbarumba, in the Riverina Presbytery, by now. Sadly, for reasons that everyone is only too well aware of, we aren't doing that. But we will, once it's safe to travel again. In the meantime, we pray God's care and protection on the folk at Tumba and across the Riverina area. We look forward to seeing you as soon as we can.

06.01.2022 Our ED, Warren Bird, reflects on Easter: For me, Easter is a greater celebration than Christmas. This is partly because of the way that Christmas has become caught up with present giving and summer holiday time, so that it almost gets 'lost', whereas Easter is more stand alone and you can focus on it. But it's also what you focus on. As I wrote in my Palm Sunday reflection last week, this is actually a time of celebration that Jesus is Lord. Christmas is a wonderful celebrati...on of God coming in human form, but Easter is a celebration of God suffering at the hands of the humans He'd lived among and triumphing even over the most extreme wickedness. It's what the incarnation at Christmas is actually all about. At Christmas the work of salvation, or the final stage of it at least, begins. At Easter, as Jesus cries out with his dying breath, IT IS FINISHED. As He hung on the cross, Jesus recited, in halting fashion, the words of Psalm 22. Beginning with "my God, why have you forsaken me?" - which is what sin makes us all feel, though it isn't true - Jesus and the Psalmist both work through the reality of what's happening to finish on the triumphant note that God hasn't abandoned his servant at all, but that what is happening will be celebrated forever. "They shall proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn - he has done it! (It is finished!)" (Psalm 22.31) The resurrection proves it. As we all face a period of death - for too many, literally, but for all of us an "entombment" of sorts as we #stayathome this Easter - we can celebrate that the pattern always includes resurrection to follow. To all the supporters of UFS, on behalf of me and the team, we wish you a reflective and uplifting Easter 2020. It's going to be unlike any we've ever experienced before, but may we look back on it and say that we grew in grace and knowledge of Jesus because of that. See more

03.01.2022 Our ED's latest column for Insights magazine, reflecting on managing finances through a pandemic. https://www.insights.uca.org.au/from-my-youth-you-have-tau/

02.01.2022 (From Warren Bird): Ethical investment note on Rio Tinto. Rio Tinto has been on the Excluded Investments list of the Synod for several years. However, the company's positive steps in relation to divestment from coal and other risky extraction activities means that a process of review had commenced at the Ethical Investments Monitoring Committee (EIMC), which UFS oversees. The continued negative for Rio has been its involvement in a number of ethical controversies. With the t...errible news that Rio has destroyed a significant heritage site (see the attached article), the EIMC has decided to cease the review process immediately. Despite the company's apology for this incident, the concerns it raises about the depth of commitment to Ethical reform across Rio's Board and Management are too great to ignore. The Synod's ethical policy opens with the broad principle that the Church has no desire to profit from or support a company that behaves in such a manner. Rio Tinto will therefore remain on the Church's Excluded Investments list for the foreseeable future. https://www.abc.net.au//wa-heritage-destroyed-by/12305298

01.01.2022 The pressure on Rio Tinto's executives, who sanctioned the destruction of the Juukan Gorge ancient rock shelters, continues to mount. Our friend, Adam Matthews, from the UK C of E pension fund, was interviewed on BBC radio today, calling on the Board to properly respond to the situation and explain how its governance will change. (15 minutes into the attached clip, if you're interested in listening.) There are calls in the Australian Financial Review today for the CEO and ot...her directors to resign. When Adam Matthews shared the interview on his LinkedIn, our ED applauded and provided the following comment: "Good on you Adam. "Rio has been giving presentations to the investment community in recent years touting their Responsible Investment credentials. Thus one aspect of the problem with this particular incident - and the response by the company since - is that it reveals that there was no supportive corporate culture behind those presentations. It is hard to conclude anything other than that they were just for show, or were prepared by lower level staff who were just as duped as the rest of us who were starting to believe Rio had changed its approach to the world it digs up. "This should concern even investors who don't care about whether a heritage site was destroyed or not. They should care about whether the company they've invested in is honest in its dealings with shareholders and potential shareholders. If they misled about something as important as this, then what else are they not telling the truth about? IE it's about culture, not just about the rights or wrongs of a particular incident (though I think the incident was an appalling wrong). "It's going to be a long, long haul for them to win back credibility and trust." https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08qxs46