Tobacco: Tobacco Stocks and Pension Trustees

tobacco: Tobacco a deadly business about this series Read more Several councils said that their pension trustees could not dispose of their tobacco stocks because of a legal obligation to maximise retirement income, according to The Guardian. However, anti-smoking campaigners said this argument no longer has any credibility . Government guidelines say trustees can take ethical, social or environmental concerns into account, as long as the fund's finances do not suffer. Council retirement schemes in the UK are major investors in firms including British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands and Philip Morris, according to data compiled from more than 100 freedom of information requests. And several investment professionals contested the idea that selling tobacco stocks would crimp returns, pointing to the long-term risks threatening the industry. UK councils that have the highest direct investments in tobacco stocks Council pension fund trustees have no control over pooled funds, a common type of investment that makes up around 40% of the UK's 3.5tn in institutional assets. The schemes, which manage 211bn between them, have 1.7bn of direct tobacco investments, as well as a further 1.1bn via pooled investments, where money is grouped with other clients' cash as part of larger funds managed. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

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