Bamboo Invest launches sustainability-focused MPS for advisers

A new model portfolio service (MPS) for UK financial advisers, Bamboo Invest, has launched with three portfolio ranges spanning a spectrum of sustainability approaches.

The firm has been founded by Tim Crockford, formerly at Federated Hermes and J O Hambro Capital Management, and James Stewart, previously at Vanguard and Dimensional Fund Advisors.

Stewart will act as chief executive officer and has almost 20 years of experience in adviser distribution, while Crockford will act as chief investment officer, with his career focused on impact and sustainable equity investing.

The three portfolio ranges – Exclusive, Best Actors, and Change Makers – look to give advisers an answer for investors at varying points on the sustainability spectrum.

Exclusive is a low-cost passive core with baseline exclusions, Best Actors incorporates actively managed sustainability strategies, and Change Makers identifies listed impact strategies with measurable environmental and social goals.

Bamboo said its aim was to provide an investment experience that helped advisers reach their financial goals without compromising their values.

To enable this, the firm will offer a range of portfolios supported by technology that helps advisers match investors to the most suitable option and the training to advise on it.

It claimed that sustainable investing remained a minority offering at most advice firms, with the market fragmented and jargon-heavy, and advisers receiving little independent support and tools to translate investor values into portfolio decisions consistently.

Each of its portfolio ranges starts with a diversified passive foundation, with active and thematic strategies added where they align with its objectives.

The three principles that apply across the range are: broad diversification across countries, sectors and companies; a tilt towards sustainable businesses; and exposure to structural long-term themes.

“Advisers don’t need another fund claiming to be sustainable,” commented Stewart. “They need a solution that helps them offer their clients the right portfolio for their financial goals and their values, while keeping costs low.

“Get that right, and the sustainable option could become the default rather than the exception.”

Crockford added: “Most investors want sustainability assessed on substance, not on a label.

“We form our own view on what belongs in each portfolio and judge it on both investment and sustainability merit. That is expertise advisers have asked for but rarely been offered.”

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