Responsible Investing

Modern slavery can take many forms, including forced labour, child labour, domestic servitude, sex trafficking and human trafficking.

There are more people in slavery today than at any other point in history, and it occurs in every country globally – not just in the developing world.

Any company that profits from using forced labour is doing so illegally. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean it isn't happening. In fact, the total profits obtained from the use of forced labour in the private economy worldwide is estimated to be around US$150 billion per year.2

Aside from the huge impacts on society and, of course, those individuals involved, modern slavery has negative repercussions for companies and future development. At CFS, we believe modern slavery has no place in society and we all share the responsibility to eradicate it as a matter of priority.

In December 2022 we were pleased to release our inaugural Modern Slavery Statement since becoming a standalone business in December 2021.

Our Statement reaffirms our commitment to addressing modern slavery risk within our sphere of influence and outlines the ways in which we identify, manage and mitigate modern slavery within our direct business operations, supply chains and investments.

Key actions from the 2022 financial year highlighted in our Statement include:

• developing a modern slavery risk identification framework and action plan;
  
  
• establishing a modern slavery working group;
  
  
• establishing a partnership with FairSupply to review our Australian share portfolio, with the data used to engage with companies identified as high risk;
  
  
• appointing EOS at Federated Hermes to enable active ownership amongst our global investments, including a focus on modern slavery;
  
  
• continuing to engage and share learnings with peers through collaborative groups, including the Responsible Investment Association Australasia’s (RIAA) Human Rights
  Working Group and Investors Against Slavery and Trafficking APAC (IAST APAC); and
  
  
• engaging our people through modern slavery training.
  

View our statement

1. https://www.walkfree.org/reports/global-estimates-of-modern-slavery-2022/
2. International Labour Organisation