KSA Outlines Sustainable Investment Policy

The association has created a guideline for the investment of students’ money
Joseph Keller, Staff Writer

The Kwantlen Student Association has created a set of guidelines for how it manages the investment of student funds.

Council approved the KSA’s Sustainable Investment Policy, which was reviewed multiple times by its Finance Committee and others, on July 14. The document details policies regarding the management of the association’s medium and long-term assets.

“We’re already operating in a way that is compliant with the policy that we’ve created, but we wanted to have it in writing and we wanted to have it clear,” says VP Finance and Operations Rawan Ramini.

The association holds a certain percentage of student funds in the form of capital investments. It’s the policy of the KSA to only be involved in “socially responsible” investments, meaning that the KSA will not invest in companies involved with subjects like alcohol, tobacco, pornography, nuclear weapons, child labor, natural resource pipelines.

According to the Sustainable Investment Policy, the KSA gives preference to businesses that practice “adherence to a high level of corporate governance” and “effective and transparent environmental practices,” among other factors.

“The policy is not just an investment policy. It’s an environmental, sustainability, and business policy,” says Ramini. “We want to invest in organizations and companies that share the same values that we hold.”

The document outlines other criteria for potential investment as well, including requirements for cash flow and liquidity, a layout of the KSA’s risk tolerance, and the KSA’s expectations for the fund’s performance.

The passing of the policy coincides with the KSA’s switch from CIBC to Van City as the association’s credit union. The KSA wanted to have the policy in writing so that Van City has a clear guide for how their investments should be managed.

Ramini first brought the idea of having a more official investment policy to the KSA Finance Committee, who created a working group that drafted the first version of the document to be edited and amended by the KSA Committee, General Manager, and Financial Controller. Then, it was brought to council for approval and revised for detail and professionalism by Van City and finalized by the KSA.

”The process of creating an investment policy was quite long because we wanted it to be inclusive of everything Van City should know, and we wanted it to be as detailed as possible,” says Ramini.