Good Egg awarded 2017
Renewed 2018
Renewed 2019
Renewed 2020
Renewed 2021
Renewed 2022
Renewed 2023
About EQ Investors
EQ Investors is a financial planner and wealth manager. Its products include financial advice, planning and investments, such as ISAs and SIPPs, pensions and impact investments. It offers investors a low-cost way to invest in positive impact funds and businesses through its Positive Impact Portfolios.
Summary of findings
Unlike many of its direct competitors, EQ Investors offers and actively promotes its Positive Impact Portfolios. alongside traditional investment options. The Positive Impact Portfolios represent 20 per cent of funds under management, which has grown from 5 per cent in under two years. and is significantly more than the industry average, which is less than 5 per cent of funds under management.*
Good Egg Final Report
Quotes from panellists
Strengths
“The online overview/portfolios and balance sheet offer a really simple and clear way of tracking the performance of investments.”
“It is a positive differentiator that the business is owned by its staff, and conspicuously advocates a move away from short term profit driven speculation to longer term stewardship. That is to be applauded, as is the effort to democratise wealth management by offering products for those of slightly more modest means.
“In sum, EQ seems to be coming from the right place, and has some strong differentiators, policies, and initiatives that certainly place it ahead of many of it’s industry competitors. It is also refreshing to see a fund that values longer-term stewardship, and those of slightly more modest means.”
Areas of concern
“I would like to see more detail on things like the EQ screening scorecard – again, a potentially strong differentiator that does not divulge enough information.”
“The majority of “pros” for Environment and Social Strengths rest on the Positive Impact Portfolio, which represent 20% of assets under management. For me, this is a real dealbreaker – without more information on the further 80%, it is impossible to assess whether EQ makes a net positive impact”or not.”
Comment from EQ Investors
“It’s been five years since we started the Positive Impact Portfolios journey. Over that timeframe, year-on-year, we have made our portfolios more impactful by adding new funds which we believe have a high positive impact on the society and the environment. New fund additions include the Threadneedle UK Social Bond and Impax Environmental Leaders funds.
“The EQ investment team were involved in the launch and the management of the Truestone Global Impact fund in 2011, which was the first impact fund in the UK whose impact was measured and audited by Deloitte. When we launched the Positive Impact Portfolios in 2012, we knew back then the measurement of impact was challenging for listed equities and bonds. The only data really available was the carbon footprint and we were glad to see that our selected funds and as a result our portfolios had a much lower carbon footprint than the indices. But we wanted to show more of our impact and that’s the reason why on a quarterly basis, we highlight three company examples within our portfolios to explain how the positive impact is achieved.
“Since then, we have actively engaged with Style Research, MSCI, other ESG providers and all our asset managers to see how we could report more on our impact. A number of ideas have been shared and tested but at the end of the day, what was really missing is data disclosures from companies. By actively engaging with the underlying companies, our asset managers have been able to improve data collection. In 2015, Impax was the first manager to publish data on water, waste management, renewable energy produced and carbon saved. More and more of our asset managers are starting to report their impact. Whilst it is still a long way before we can aggregate the data, it is very encouraging to see that our investments do have a meaningful positive impact.”
More about EQ Investors on Good With Money:
Positive Impact Portfolios – more information
How a positive approach can attract new investors
Want to save for a house? Why cash deposits may not be the answer