Social investment reputation 'damaged' by financial crisis

The financial crisis has damaged the reputation of companies in terms of the social investment they carry out, it has been claimed.

In an article for the Financial Times, head of sustainability for the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales Richard Spencer said there is ’a strong public sense that the business world and the financial community in particular have abandoned values and ethical behaviour’.

The public’s current perception of firms is that they pay large bonuses to employees and do not give anything back to society, something Neville White of Ecclesiastical Investment Management said the banking sector is currently trying to change.

He explained community investment by the UK’s big four banks rose during the past financial year, a period ’when it might have been expected to fall’.

Over £210 million in donations were reported to have been made, he noted.

The Directory of Social Change recently revealed it is to launch a new register aimed at reassuring lenders who are concerned about making social investment.ADNFCR-2318-ID-19815883-ADNFCR