The inaugural meeting of the Bountiful Roman Catholic Advisory Council (hereafter “AC”) was held on December 5, 2024 and was entitled “Faithful Investing Toward the Common Good”. The meeting was attended by 15 individuals who have been selected to be members of the AC based on their unique professional, faith, and personal qualifications. Below is a brief summary of the topics discussed, the key takeaways, and any actions resulting from the discussion.
Topic: Desire to align one’s personal investments with one’s faith convictions.
Takeaway: There is a relatively high interest among AC members in achieving alignment between their faith convictions and their investments.
Action: Bountiful will continue to focus on bringing solutions to market that enable alignment of personal investments with deeply held faith convictions.
Topic: The resonance of the Standards articulated in the Bountiful Roman Catholic Investment Framework.
Takeaway: Of the five Standards that make up the Framework, the Standards “Protecting Human Life” and “Enhancing the Common Good” resonated most with the AC members as Standards they would like to see reflected in their personal investments.
Action: Bountiful is actively working on launching thematic indices that align with these top two standards. The expectation is that these indices will form the basis of structured products initially listed in Europe. The indices and structured products are targeted for launch by the end of March 2025.
Topic: Launch of the Bountiful Roman Catholic Values Index (BRCVI)
Takeaway: Faith alignment as opposed to minimal tracking error vis-à-vis a benchmark should be the primary goal of these types of solutions. In fact, tight tracking error may raise concerns that the indices are not adequately differentiated from the solutions already available in the market.
Action: Bountiful has noted the feedback and will continue to launch “core” indices solutions that balance faith alignment and tight tracking error as well as “thematic” indices that will lean more toward alignment with certain faith principles with less focus on tracking error.
As announced in a press release issued in mid-December, Bountiful is happy to share that the BRCVI is now live.
Topic: Companies engaged in military contracting.
Takeaway: There was unanimous agreement among AC members that a country’s right to self-defense justifies the existence of industries that support warfare. The AC stressed the degree and type of involvement with the most problematic being controversial and indiscriminate weapons, next conventional weapons, and finally those companies with more benign involvement (e.g., manufacturers of field medical kits).
Action: Bountiful will continue to fine-tune its thresholds and screening approach for military contractors striving to differentiate between the different types of involvement.
Topic: Companies involved in pornographic media.
Takeaway: There was clear sentiment that not only producers, but also other enablers of pornographic media (for example, distributors) need to be scrutinized as they all bear moral responsibility for their involvement. The AC highlighted the challenges associated with identifying and quantifying involvement in these problematic activities.
Action: Bountiful continues to look for reliable ways to definitively identify and quantify involvement in both the production and enablement of pornographic media.