Press Releases

IW Financial Offers Faith-based Organizations New Way to Monitor and Review Suitability of Equity Investments

Firm's "Portfolio Alignment Report" provides suitability analysis and ranking of stocks; Glen Yelton joins as Regional Sales Manager to target this growing market

PORTLAND, Maine, April 19, 2005 — IW Financial, a leading provider of technology solutions that enable investment professionals to research corporate practices and emerging risk factors according to client-specified guidelines, is offering a new service to faith-based organizations seeking to more closely monitor the suitability of stocks held in their institutional investment portfolios, it was announced today.  

Through its "Portfolio Alignment Report," IW Financial provides investment committees, trustees, and others whose responsibility includes overseeing investment management decisions with detailed quarterly portfolio analysis. The report looks at all stocks held within the portfolios, and ranks each security within both the overall universe and its peer group based on values and other criteria defined by the client. The analysis is conducted using IW Financial's IWF Workstation.

"Many religious organizations have sizeable portfolios held in endowments or retirement plans, and naturally want to make certain that the investments both perform well and reflect the values of their members," said Sam Pierce, chief executive officer at IW Financial. "The Portfolio Alignment report is a great tool that gives the user the ability to see how closely their investments track with the values and goals specified by the organization."

Portfolios that reflect client values

IW Financial takes a different approach to values-based investing, allowing clients greater flexibility in creating investment guidelines. Users develop customized screens that include traditional criteria such as environmental performance, human rights, labor relations, family friendliness, alcohol, gambling, contraceptives, tobacco, and corporate governance. The Portfolio Alignment Report incorporates those criteria and analyzes the organization's portfolio holdings, providing a portfolio rating and ratings of individual companies within the portfolio. Armed with this information investment committees can make divestiture decisions, benchmark their progress, and work with their managers to insure that their portfolio increasingly reflects the values and concerns of the individual organization.  

"Religious organizations have long been sensitive to the need to align their investment strategies with the values of their members," said Pierce. "The Portfolio Alignment Report provides a practical tool for furthering this goal by giving fiduciaries the ability to be even better stewards of their financial resources."

Glen Yelton Joins IW Financial

In support of its entry into the faith-based community, IW Financial announced that Glen K. Yelton has joined the firm as Regional Sales Manager. Yelton recently served as Director of Research at American Values Investments (AVI), a values-driven financial planning, investment management and stock research firm. In that role he developed research technology to find companies that best met AVI's conservative Christian values, and was an early adopter of the IWF Workstation. Yelton, who will be based in Tennessee, will focus primarily on supporting organizations that serve members of the religious community.

"IW Financial recognizes the importance of aligning individual principles with investments," said Yelton. "Having firsthand experience with the IWF Workstation while at AVI, I understand just how powerful a tool it can be. I look forward to meeting with members of faith-focused and faith-based organizations to explain how this technology can help them achieve their objectives."

About IW Financial
Founded in 2000, IW Financial is a leading provider of technology solutions that enable financial professionals to manage risk, differentiate their services, and strengthen relationships with clients. IW Financial's proprietary technology makes it easy to incorporate important non-financial criteria into the investment process. IW Financial offers its software to the market through the IWF Workstation, designed for money management professionals, and the IWF Advisor, created for financial advisor and broker/dealer networks.

Dan Porter
VP of Marketing
IW Financial
207-773-2333

Mike MacMillan or
Elizabeth Rumble
MacMillan Communications
212-473-4442
info@macmillancom.com