An update for Q3 2021 from our CEO, Terry Dillon.
I hope you and your family are safe and well as the country battles to contain the spread of the infectious Delta COVID strain. While it is sometimes difficult to maintain positivity when we are estranged from loved ones and the things that bring us joy, I am hopeful that the increasing rate of vaccination means that we may be able to start living more freely soon.
In this edition of The Edge we look at some of the positive and not so positive trends arising from the pandemic, including the rise in the incidence and sophistication of scams, which is now big business. We outline the main types of scams doing the rounds and provide some tips to ensure you or your family members don’t fall victim.
We also explore the growth in socially responsible investment, a sector which according to the recent Responsible Investment Benchmark Report1 has grown year on year since inception and over 17% throughout 2020. We recently made changes to the fixed interest component of our core portfolios to reduce exposure to companies with poorer ESG outcomes, such as high carbon emissions, negative social impacts and/or poor governance standards, without sacrificing expected portfolio performance.
We’ve received the results of our annual client survey which is always a highlight of my year. The Shadforth leadership team and I take the time to read through all your verbatim responses to gain insight into where we are meeting your needs and what you want more of.
I was delighted that over 40% of our clients took the time to provide detailed feedback. And, over a challenging COVID year, there was a significant improvement in overall client satisfaction and advocacy scores - that is, the number of clients who would be comfortable recommending our advisory service to their family and friends. Thank you again to all who completed the survey.
I would also like to thank you if you were impacted by the recent BT Panorama outages. We appreciate your continued patience and understanding as these matters are resolved. I understand that for the great majority of you these issues have now been fully rectified.
As always if you have any feedback or thoughts you would like to share with me, please do so via email at ceo@sfg.com.au.
1 Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA)- Responsible Investment Benchmark Report 2020.