Socially screened funds better meet fiduciary criteria than...

Socially screened funds better meet fiduciary criteria than non-screened funds, according to research from the Investment Management Council. Seven percent of all socially screened funds, or five, passed IMC’s criteria, while only 5%, or 485, of non-screened funds passed all the fiduciary hurdles, said Donald B. Trone, president of the IMC. IMC applied eight criteria to the 10,000 mutual funds in Morningstar’s Prinicipia Pro database: consistent style strategy; consistency of securities in the portfolio with the investment strategy; portfolio manager tenure; assets under management; performance relative to peer funds; risk-adjusted performance; expense ratios relative to peer funds; and organizational stability. The socially screened funds that passed the IMC’s hurdles were: Citizens Emerging Growth; Calvert Capital Accumulation; Calvert World Values International; Domini Social Equity; and Smith Barney Concert Awareness funds.