Onno Steenbeek, Professor of Pension Fund Risk Management at Erasmus School of Economics, discusses the ethical side of investments by pension funds in an article by Trouw. Even though an industry is lucrative, does that mean it is also ethical?
Because of the war in Ukraine, Minister Ollongren wants pension funds to invest more in weapons and called companies that do not do so ‘part of the problem’. On the one hand, this type of investment is very lucrative, but there are still ethical barriers that hold the funds back. Certain funds indicate that they will go along with this, although some funds want to invest more than the others.
Steenbeek understands the struggle that the funds are experiencing. In principle you can simply invest in the arms industry. The aim of pension funds is of course to achieve a good return for their customers. Yet a reproach about the ethics of certain sectors is quickly made. Pension funds receive a lot of pressure from their members in this area. Certain weapon categories are on the United Nations blacklist. As soon as you invest in it you can expect sanctions, so that is something that the pension funds will stay away from.
In any case, by looking at the stock markets it is clear that investing in weapons is very lucrative.
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You can read the full article from Trouw, 22 February, here.