RIAA Charter

In 2003, RIAA adopted a Charter which all members are now required to sign onto. Our Charter is a simple, powerful and binding statement which sets out who we are and what we believe in. It should demonstrate that responsible investment has a powerful message.

The Charter has been developed:

  • to provide a statement of unity and common purpose for all RIAA members to subscribe to and promote;
  • to clarify RIAA’s position on a number of corporate social responsibility and investment issues;
  • to enable RIAA to expand and strengthen its membership;
  • to provide a set of agreed principals which may assist members to respond to queries about the industry;
  • to set minimum standards for membership.

THE CHARTER

  • Business needs to be judged on environmental, social, ethical or  governance performance, as well as their financial performance.
  • Business needs to continuously strive for improvement in all these areas of performance.
  • We support the growth of the responsible investment sector and believe it can assist business to improve performance.
  • We believe that responsible investment portfolios can provide competitive returns for investors within defined risk parameters.
  • We encourage transparency within the investment industry in order to empower investors.

RIAA’s COMPLAINTS HANDLING PROCEDURE

  1. Where a complaint is received, the Board or Executive Officer will determine if the complaint is relevant to the charter principles:
  2. Where the complaint is relevant to the charter principles, the complainant will be encouraged to communicate directly with the member involved and will be told they can recontact the Association if they do not receive a response within a reasonable period. Where possible member contact details will be supplied.
  3. Where the complaint is not relevant to the charter principles, the complainant will be informed that it does not fall under the charter. The complainant may still be encouraged to communicate directly with the member.
  4. Where the complainant communicates with the relevant member on a matter which is relevant to the charter principles, and does not receive an answer within a reasonable time period where the answer explains how the member believes they are adhering to the charter principles – the Board will communicate directly with the member. This communication will ask for a response to the Board and the complainant which explains how the member believes they are adhering to the charter principles.
  5. Where a member does not respond with such an explanation confirming their ongoing support of the Charter principles within one month from receipt of Board communication:
    1. the member must either resign from membership; or
    2. the Board may choose to decline ongoing membership from a date of the Board’s choosing (with no return of fees)
  6. All complaints raised with RIAA will be tabled at the Board. For those items that have not reached stage 2 above, the complaint may be tabled in summary form.

STATEMENT SUPPORTING RIAA’S CHARTER

We aim to achieve our charter through:

  • Industry advocacy;
  • Encouraging networking amongst the Australian and New Zealand responsible investment industry and with our mainstream counterparts;
  • Participating in global responsible investment networks;
  • Continuing education;
  • Supporting research into responsible investment;
  • Supporting transparency;
  • Facilitating corporate change.

Environmental and social issues typically recognised by our membership include:

  • The health risks of tobacco;
  • The social impacts of problem gambling;
  • Logging of old growth forests;
  • The nuclear fuel cycle;
  • Armaments;
  • Environment.

RIAA, however, recognises that there can be a range of views on these issues and will facilitate debate in these and other areas.