Today’s post looks at the news that a number of extremely large institutional investors have joined forces to call for action to be taken against the tobacco companies, all for the good of societal health. For this post, the focus will be on that particular call, but also on the development of institutional investors championing social causes on the back of a concerted call from their members, together with the relative success of investors and large firms that fully commit to that ideal. However, it is important to assess whether this move by the industry is genuine, or simply a reaction to societal pressure which, in turn, shields the investors and the financial sector moreover from criticism. In April of this year, it was reported that four major institutional investors – Axa, CalPERS, Scor, and AMP Capital – were calling on their fellow investors to publicly back efforts to divest from the tobacco sector, stating that they wanted other investors to join them in supporting ‘ ...