Socially Responsible Investing
Banking that lets you live, save, and spend in line with your values, with a member-owned credit union that puts a share of every dollar back into the community.
Socially Responsible Investing is about using investments to build a more economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable world.
SRI is known by many names, such as green, ethical, or responsible investing. It engages with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) analysis, and can include impact investing. Kindred was the first financial institution in Canada to have all our GICs validated as SRI.
Ready to get started? Meet with a member of our Wealth and Investment Team for investing advice with values at the core. We can tell you more about socially responsible investing with Kindred and help with your financial plan today.
How does Socially Responsible Investing work?
We want to help you connect your values with your finances. Socially responsible investments (SRI) use wealth to build a more economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable world.
Our Wealth and Investment Team partners with QAM and QA to offer socially responsible mutual funds from NEI Investments and IA Clarington Investments, both of which apply screening processes to their SRI offerings. We also offer SRI mutual funds with an ESG focus from leading companies including CI Investments, AGF, Franklin Templeton, Mackenzie, and Fidelity Investments.
NEI Investments, a leading provider of mutual funds and investment portfolios, offers Canada’s largest and most diversified range of SRI solutions.
Our Partners
Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) at Kindred
SRI involves the integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into the selection and management of investments. The objective is to do good things with your money, and to use wealth to build a more economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable world.
To ensure that your money is invested in companies that fit your values, a rigorous review process takes place. All Kindred GICs are validated as socially responsible, a first in Canada!
SRI FAQs
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What makes an investment socially responsible?
An investment can be considered socially responsible based on the nature of the business the company conducts. Screening is a filtering process based on social and environmental criteria that are used to identify if an investment can be deemed socially responsible. Negative screens strive to limit investing in companies that engage in practices such as gambling, military weapons, nuclear power, and pornography. Positive screens evaluate companies based on the good they do and strive to include those that engage in practices that support, for example, animal welfare, human rights, and the environment. Shareholder advocacy is another aspect of SRI, which allows investors to have a say in the companies they invest in.
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What is SRI screening at Kindred?
At Kindred, we incorporate a set of socially responsible lending criteria into our agricultural and commercial lending practices. These criteria include screening business borrowers for any involvement in industries such as alcohol, tobacco, and gambling and for any significant negative impacts on the environment, human rights, or communities. Because our loans are funded by members’ GIC deposits, the screens in place ensure the GICs are SRI compliant.
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What do screens do?
Screens help all parties identify a range of activities that member businesses seeking a loan might be involved in. This information helps identify mostly non-financial risks to their business and to Kindred’s loan portfolio. In turn, this information provides a watch process to assist members in building businesses that are more socially responsible.
On the member deposit side, these screens allow Kindred to offer GICs that are validated as ‘SRI’ – a unique offering in the marketplace! -
What are the ‘screens’? And what are the tolerance levels?
Kindred will avoid lending to borrowers that meet the criteria below.
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That are involved in the direct manufacturing and / or production of: Alcoholic Beverages; Cannabis; Gambling; Military and Weapons; Nuclear Power; Pornography and Tobacco.
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That derive 10% or more of revenue from the distribution and / or retail sale of: Cannabis; Gambling; Military and Weapons; Nuclear Power; Pornography and Tobacco.
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That derive 25% or more of revenue from the distribution and / or retail sale of: Alcoholic Beverages.
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SRI Investing Options at Kindred
SRI Investing Options at Kindred
Socially Responsible GICs are just one of our many value-based products. Click on the links below to learn more about how Kindred is impacting our world in amazing ways!
Creation Care Loans
Creation Care Loans are available to members who would like to purchase products such as solar energy systems and geo-thermal heating/cooling, as well as home upgrades prescribed as part of an eco-energy audit. Creation Care Loans offer a renewable fixed-rate loan with a 0.5% environmental discount.
Meet with a member of Kindred Today
Meet with a member of our Wealth and Investment Team for investing advice with values at the core. We can tell you more about socially responsible investing with Kindred and help with your financial plan today.