Socially Responsible Investors Believe Their Values Improve Corporate Behavior, According to EACM Advisors

PRNewswire-FirstCall
NORWALK, Conn.
(NYSE:BK)
Dec 3, 2007

Those Who Utilize SRI See Improvement by Ratio of 9 to 1

NORWALK, Conn., December 3, 2007 — Organizations that practice socially responsible investing (SRI) overwhelmingly believe that their policies contribute to better corporate behavior, according to a survey of institutional investors by EACM Advisors LLC, an investment subsidiary of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation. The respondents were divided regarding the ability of their SRI policies to improve investment returns or limit their investment risk.

"The commitment of organizations that pursue an SRI approach is clear, as 77% of the respondents utilizing SRI indicated they will continue to pursue this type of investing," said Bill Crerend, chief executive officer of EACM Advisors, a $6 billion fund of funds manager specializing in alternative strategies and traditional long-only products. "While the respondents were divided over the ability of companies to improve their returns by operating with higher levels of social awareness, the overwhelming majority of those employing SRI policies, by a ratio of nine to one, believe these policies improve corporate behavior."

The respondents also showed an interest in applying SRI strategies to alternative strategies, with 28 percent of those using SRI indicating they are likely to employ it in hedge funds.

SRI investors by more than two-to-one indicate they use avoidance screening to influence corporate behavior, according to the EACM survey. The respondents singled out stocks of tobacco companies followed by pornography and adult entertainment companies as the top two categories to avoid. Organizations that utilize positive screening indicated their top two types of investments were companies with good human rights records followed closely by those with good environmental policies.

"Faith based institutions were among the earliest proponents of socially responsible investing, and continue to be core supporters of this approach," Crerend said. "In addition, we are seeing a broader range of institutions from around the globe develop a serious interest in this area. We are also seeing increasing concern that these initiatives reflect environmental, social and governance related issues. One of the challenges for the investment management community going forward will be delivering investment solutions which meet the investment needs of these institutions within an SRI construct."

The survey was conducted in October and analyzed the results of more than 200 respondents from foundations, endowments and non-tax-exempt organizations.

EACM is part of BNY Mellon Asset Management, one of the world's largest global asset managers with more than US$1 trillion in assets under management. The multi-boutique asset management model encompasses the investment skills of world class specialist asset managers who are amongst the most advanced and highly regarded names in money management. With investment expertise that spans the asset class spectrum, BNY Mellon Asset Management offers a comprehensive suite of beta-achieving and alpha-generating investment strategies to meet the unique needs of institutional investors.

The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation is a global financial services company focused on helping clients manage and service their financial assets, operating in 34 countries and serving more than 100 markets. The company is a leading provider of financial services for institutions, corporations and high-net-worth individuals, providing superior asset management and wealth management, asset servicing, issuer services, clearing services and treasury services through a worldwide client-focused team. It has more than $20 trillion in assets under custody and administration, more than $1.1 trillion in assets under management and services $11 trillion in outstanding debt. Additional information is available at bnymellon.com.