Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Contact: Amanda Fried, Treasurer’s Office
(415) 554- 554-0889 (office)
***STATEMENT FROM TREASURER JOSÉ CISNEROS ABOUT DIVESTMENT FROM BANKS FINANCING THE DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINE***
The duty of the Treasurer under California law is to safely manage the short-term investments of the City and County of San Francisco. As outlined in our Investment Policy, the investments must 1) preserve capital, 2) meet the daily cash flow demands of the City, and 3) provide a market rate of return while conforming to all state and local statues governing the investment of public funds.
Once these three primary objectives are satisfied, my staff then uses socially responsible investment goals to guide decisions about investing in corporate securities and depository institutions. The screen includes items like production of firearms, board diversity, predatory lending and global sanctions. When faced with investments of the same credit quality, term and yield, the investment staff will apply the socially responsible criteria to select the best option for the City. The results of the socially responsible screen are reviewed monthly. This screen is the reason why Wells Fargo is not on our list of investments today.
I hear the strong outcry for divestment from institutions financing the Dakota Access Pipeline. First and foremost, my responsibility is to keep the City’s money safe. I am considering adding financing of the Dakota Access Pipeline to the socially responsible investment matrix when we do our annual update of the screening factors in October.