SRI fund leads the pack

The Australian Ethical Balanced Trust has won the Standard & Poor's Fund Award for Australia in the 'balanced funds - neutral' category. The fund is managed by Canberra-based Australian Ethical Investment, which chief executive Anne O'Donnell calls 'a deep green boutique fund'. The trust, which has has about Aus$360million (US$277m) under management, generated 15.68 per cent returns in 2004-05, and in the past seven years it has produced total annualized returns of 10.09 per cent.