Why you shouldn’t invest like the head of the CDC

Brenda Fitzgerald, a medical doctor and former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), resigned in January following reports that she had bought stock in a tobacco company after taking office in 2017. Disclosure forms indicated that Fitzgerald’s financial advisor purchased stock in Japan Tobacco, one of the largest tobacco companies in the world; it owns the U.S. brands Winston and Camel. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States and globally. Since smoking prevention is a major CDC goal, the stock purchase was clearly a conflict of interest. Although probably legal, Fitzgerald’s actions while CDC chief strike many as unethical. How can someone put their own financial gain above principles and the well-being of others? It happens more often than we think. Knowingly or not, millions of Americans are investing in tobacco products through their retirement plans. Retirement plans invest mostly in mutual funds, which invest in a wide assortment of company stocks. It’s not always easy for investors to find out what’s inside the funds they own. According to the advocacy website TobaccoFreeFunds.org, major plan providers like Vanguard and Fidelity invest in tobacco or the promotion of tobacco use to the

February 7, 2018 No Comments

First shareholder resolution on Rohingya presses Chevron on business ties to Burma government

Resolution asks oil giant to halt business with regimes engaged in genocide or crimes against humanity Falls Church, Va., 12/12/16 – A socially responsible investment firm and a Roman Catholic international religious congregation announced today that they have filed the first shareholder resolution focused on the persecuted Burmese Rohingya minority, calling on California-based Chevron Corporation to evaluate a policy of not doing business with governments that are believed to be engaged in genocide or crimes against humanity. Filed by Azzad Asset Management and the Ursuline Sisters of Tildonk, U.S. Province, the proposed resolution urges the oil giant to halt its relationship with the government of Burma (Myanmar) until that country ends the state-sanctioned violence against its Rohingya minority. It is the first time a shareholder resolution focused on the Rohingya has been submitted to a U.S. corporation. The proposal was prepared in consultation with the International Campaign for the Rohingya and is expected to be voted on by stockholders at the Chevron annual meeting in May 2017. It describes the recent violence by Burma’s army against the ethnic Rohingya people in Rakhine state in western Burma. Through its subsidiary Unocal Myanmar Offshore Co., Ltd., Chevron entered into a production sharing

December 12, 2016 No Comments

Azzad signs statement calling for reforms in Bangladesh manufacturing sector

Investor statement comes after September factory fire kills 35 workers FALLS CHURCH, VA – (October 27, 2016) – Azzad Asset Management, investment advisor to the Azzad Funds, announced today that it has joined a coalition of investors calling on multinational corporations to enact greater protections for factory workers in Bangladesh. This follows a September 10 boiler explosion at the Tampaco Foils Ltd. factory in Bangladesh, which resulted in a fire and building collapse that killed 35 people and injured more than 50 others. The call comes in the form of an investor statement organized by the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), a coalition of faith and values-driven organizations that engage multinational corporations to promote sustainable and fair business practices. ICCR sent the statement, representing 66 organizations with $2.3 trillion in assets, to two major Tampaco Foils customers, British American Tobacco and Nestle. The statement says in part: Urgent steps need to be taken … to avoid further loss of life, not only in factories in Bangladesh, but throughout the full reach of global supply chains. We specifically call for: Comprehensive fire and safety inspections that include thorough inspections of boilers. Worker training on fire and safety procedures and worker/management safety

October 27, 2016 No Comments

Global warming’s best friend: the megabank

Most of us are aware of the existential threat that climate change poses to our species. The immediate impacts of a warmer planet range from melting polar ice caps to drought, famine, and extreme weather events globally. Google the phrase “Kiribati climate change” to read more about the people whose country is expected to be the first to disappear due to rising sea levels. If greenhouse gas emissions continue at their current pace, experts warn that widespread catastrophe looms by the beginning of the next century. The most notorious culprit in this drama is carbon dioxide (CO2). Most CO2 emissions come from the burning of fossil fuels. Thus, fossil fuel companies have been the target of a sustained divestment campaign by the socially responsible investment industry. While divestment is impactful, there is a critical but often overlooked driver of investment in the fossil fuel industry that has only now begun to get the collective attention of the environmentally conscious: big banks. Banks play an essential role in allocating financial resources for the private sector. They do this through their lending and investment operations. For example, coal-fired power plants, the nation’s top source of CO2 emissions, are costly to build, typically

May 6, 2016 No Comments

Azzad Wise Capital Fund increases social impact with trade finance investments

(FALLS CHURCH, Va., February 23, 2016) – Azzad Asset Management today announced that it has further magnified the social impact of its flagship mutual fund by adding investments in ethical trade finance deals. These investments may provide returns for investors while helping underserved populations in Asia and Africa obtain reasonable financing to grow businesses and cooperatives. The Azzad Wise Capital Fund (WISEX) is the first halal fixed-income fund in the United States. By investing primarily in sukuk and community development banks, it can provide an alternative fixed-income investment option that contributes to social development without dealing in interest-based transactions. Through WISEX, the Virginia-based investment firm is participating in a group of syndicated ethical trade finance deals arranged by the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), an unaffiliated entity. The ITFC, an organization under the auspices of the Islamic Development Bank Group, is charged with advancing trade and improving the economic conditions of people around the world. See: Global Community Investing as an Asset Class (YouTube) The ITFC helps businesses gain better access to trade finance without exorbitant rates of interest or fraud and provides them with the necessary trade-related capacity building tools to help them compete successfully in the global

February 23, 2016 46 Comments

Promoting peace through trade

In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly on countering violent extremism, President Barack Obama quoted Shaykh Abdullah bin Bayyah, founder of the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies, as saying, “We must declare war on war so the outcome will be peace upon peace.” This noble sentiment is certainly worth pursuing, but how do we start to make it a reality? The answer, in part, could be found in the resurgence of Islamic finance. Although modern expressions of Islamic finance began only in the 1970s, they employ timeless principles such as profit-and-loss-sharing that can provide an alternative to some of the more speculative and exploitative aspects of conventional finance. Combining foundational ideas with their modern applications could be part of the strategy to undermine the root causes of war by alleviating poverty in underdeveloped parts of the world. Trade as a tool for good According to the World Bank, extreme poverty has fallen dramatically in emerging economies since 1981. About 70% of the developing world was living under $2 per day in that year, but this rate fell to just over 36% in 2011. The United Nations says that trade has been a primary reason for this

January 26, 2016 No Comments