Church of England generates 'stellar' investment returns

The Church of England is officially one of the best investment funds in the world, generating what its own commissioners called a "stellar" return in 2016.

Its endowment fund has posted a 17.1 per cent return for the year, more than double the 8.2 per cent of 2015.

On a ten and 20-year basis, it has earned an average annual return of 8.3 and 9.5 per cent respectively, says the Financial Times, ranking it ahead of the top-rated US Ivy League university endowment fund run by Yale University, which produced an annual return of 3.4 per cent last year and has averaged 8.1 per cent for the past decade.

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However, over 20 years, Yale is still well ahead, with an annual average return of 12.6 per cent.

"Armed with a long-term mandate and an in-house team of 35 investment professionals, the Church Commissioners [who run the fund] are... known for taking positions counter to industry trends", says the FT.

In one particular respect, they are going against the grain at the moment: retaining a core belief in the power of active management to drive outperformance, rather than cheaper index tracking.

However, criticism has been aimed at the Church's ethical investment policies, which in theory stop it taking stakes in companies that derive above a set percentage of earnings from pornography, arms sales, tobacco, alcohol or high-interest lending.

In 2012 the fund was criticised for upping investments in hedge funds at a time of anger over "corporate excess", while in 2013, it was revealed that the Church had invested in payday lender Wonga, in direct contravention of its policies. It has since left the lender.

Returns last year were driven in large part by UK equities, which benefitted from the post-Brexit vote slump in the pound, says the BBC.

Church Commissioners chief executive Andrew Brown said the fund contributed £230.7m to the Church of England last year, around 15 per cent of its total income.