{"id":382185,"date":"2026-04-16T08:41:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T08:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/382185\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T08:41:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T08:41:10","slug":"nz-super-funds-ethical-investing-policy-ruled-inadequate-by-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/382185\/","title":{"rendered":"NZ Super Fund\u2019s ethical investing policy ruled inadequate by court"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">In a ruling released today, Justice Simon Mount said NZSF policies around responsible investing, particularly when making divestment decisions, were unclear.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cSo far as exclusion from the fund for alleged breach of human rights standards is concerned, the policies fail to meet the basic requirements of the act in my view and are therefore unreasonable and unlawful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">Justice Mount ordered the NZSF back to the drawing board. \u201cIt follows as a matter of law that the respondent has a duty to reformulate the policy documents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">In a statement today, NZSF chief executive Jo Townsend said the ruling was being reviewed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cWe recognise that we are investing on behalf of all New Zealanders and that gives people a legitimate interest in how we manage the fund,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cWe will thoroughly evaluate today\u2019s decision and determine how best to respond to it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">Minto told the Herald today he welcomed the ruling and was pleased Justice Mount praised an earlier iteration of the NZSF\u2019s responsible investment policy that led to shares worth $7.5m in five Israeli banks being divested.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThey had a good policy in 2020, then a mysterious thing happened: the following year they gutted that policy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">Minto hoped the policy reformulation and NZSF\u2019s application of it would result in divestment from the four companies he had sued over.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cAny reasonable policy would exclude all those companies we\u2019ve identified. What\u2019s going on in the occupied West Bank is unconscionable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">Matt Nippert is an Auckland-based investigations reporter and ICIJ member covering white-collar and transnational crimes and the intersection of politics and business. He has won more than a dozen awards for his journalism \u2013 including twice being named Reporter of the Year \u2013 and joined the Herald in 2014 after having spent the decade prior reporting for business newspapers and national magazines.<\/p>\n<p>Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/my-account\/profile\/newsletters\/?from=cmp\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/my-account\/profile\/newsletters\/?from=cmp\">Business newsletter<\/a> \u2013 your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a ruling released today, Justice Simon Mount said NZSF policies around responsible investing, particularly when making divestment&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[32600,1643,3595,8556,1349,198644,198646,69066,71,295,36091,305,42,5762,329,38609,7055,43,69,7254,24684,34742,198645,313,314,1361,40,38,41,39,45082,3055,3807,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-382185","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-activists","9":"tag-bank","10":"tag-by","11":"tag-companies","12":"tag-court","13":"tag-divest","14":"tag-divestment","15":"tag-ethical","16":"tag-from","17":"tag-fund","18":"tag-funds","19":"tag-have","20":"tag-headlines","21":"tag-inadequate","22":"tag-investing","23":"tag-israeli","24":"tag-linked","25":"tag-news","26":"tag-nz","27":"tag-policy","28":"tag-ruled","29":"tag-secured","30":"tag-settlementbuilding","31":"tag-super","32":"tag-superannuation","33":"tag-that","34":"tag-top-news","35":"tag-top-stories","36":"tag-topnews","37":"tag-topstories","38":"tag-unlawful","39":"tag-urging","40":"tag-west","41":"tag-zealand"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}