Tim Cooper

Investors are increasingly turning to shareholder activism to make their views heard, and their campaigns are working. As public trust in large businesses and politicians is at an all-time low, many argue that, in the right hands, activism is more effective than political intervention in curbing corporate excess and poor governance. According to research by FTI Consulting, shareholder campaigns in the UK nearly doubled from 28 to 51 last year as people increasingly used their ownership of companies to make a difference. Globally, campaigns have increased nearly five-fold since 2010 and now focus on a huge range of issues from boardroom pay to climate change.

Financial companies, large and small, are trying to grab a piece of the burgeoning digital advice market. Also known by the unattractive name ‘robo advice’, this uses computers to give low-cost financial advice online with little or no human intervention. It could help the huge numbers of people who need financial advice but do not currently receive it. But digital advice has been strongly criticised recently for having confusing structures and opaque fees. Some also say many digital services are just a cynical attempt by companies to secure money on which they can charge ongoing fees, but are not sophisticated enough to make sure users get the best solution for their needs. So is digital advice any good? In the UK up to 5.

Winston Churchill said the inherent vice of capitalism is its unequal share of blessings. Today, the ever-widening chasm of inequality is contributing to a potential tide of political shocks across the West. But it is not all doom and gloom. A rapidly increasing number of individuals are attempting to redress inequalities by using their money to make the world a fairer place – and cleaner one too. In my last blog, I looked at how social investments such as community shares have the potential to transform large parts of our economy. An even more important example, in terms of size, is green and ethical funds. According to research organisation Vigeo EIRIS, this sector nearly trebled from £6 billion to £15 billion in the UK in the 11 years to June 2016.

Social investment is starting to transform the way that parts of our economy work. Social investments include loans and shares into organisations whose principal purpose is social. They have grown by around 20 per cent a year for the last five years, according to Big Society Capital, the organisation that helps social enterprises and charities to raise finance. It estimates there is now £1.5 billion invested into social-purpose organisations, £427 million of which was new investment last year alone. The market is set to get a huge boost from social impact tax relief (SITR), which some are calling the Government’s best kept secret.

Community share schemes are becoming an important weapon in the long-standing fight to save our communities. Numbers of local pubs, shops and schools continue to decline as they have for many years. But the rapidly increasing use of community share schemes to save such assets is striking a new, positive note among the usual stream of negative stories about communities. To give an indication, the number of community share scheme offerings in 2015 was 200, which is more than double the number of initial public offerings on the alternative investment market, albeit that the sums involved would usually be much smaller.