Altum Faithful Investing Launches New Fintech Tool

Altum Faithful Investing has launched Altum Explorer, a professional web-based platform enabling investors to apply a faith-based filter to decide to what extent companies, in which they are considering investing, enter in conflict with Catholic teaching.

In addition to the usual financial metrics employed by asset managers, Altum Explorer can seek out individual companies as well as sectors and perform analysis against levels of non-compliance, to facilitate the risk management and asset selection process against the four pillars of the Altum Investment Guidelines, including: Promotion of Human Dignity, Promotion of Life, Promotion of Family, and Care and Protection of Creation.

Explorer offers coverage of more than 3,200 constituent companies across most key global equity indices – such as MSCI World, S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, FTSE 100, DAX, CAC 40

Using Altum Explorer, investors and asset managers can build investment portfolios for their clients coherent with their Christian beliefs. The platform provides company factsheets containing data and information on:

• Company description, including location of headquarters, areas of business expertise and activities, industry classification
• Compliant Alternatives: the platform provides compliant alternatives to non-compliant companies
• Visual mapping of non-compliance by pillar
• Detailed description of the non-compliances recorded
• Company and industry peer regulatory penalties relating to corporate misconduct
• Detailed description of each non-compliance incurred by a company: It is important to highlight that unlike some ESG providers in the market, Altum has a “Full Transparency Approach”; that means evidence is available to users of Altum Explorer of each single incidence of non-compliance with its investment guidelines

The pillars adhere to teachings of the Catholic Church, especially from the teaching from the last three Popes, with St John Paul II on life and family, Benedict XVI on human dignity and Pope Francis regarding the care and protection of creation. Metrics from the Altum Catholic Values European Index indicate that implementation of such principles do not imply a sacrifice in performance, but rather generate more shareholder value over time (Index details are available at: https://www.solactive.com/wp-content/uploads/solactiveip/en/Factsheet_DE000SL0BPW4.pdf).

Altum has worked with Tableau, the data visualisation solutions provider, to develop the platform for the institutional market. This delivers the bespoke user experience to identify and follow companies that meet Altum Investment Guidelines.