In what may be the first of its kind on a state level, Missouri is investing money only in those companies that it determines has no ties to terrorism. The Associated Press reports that the Missouri Investment Trust Board has tapped State Street Global Advisors to handle an estimated $5 million of investments, for starters, to screen out those companies, with the help of the Conflict Securities Advisory Group, that have business ties with countries that the U.S. has sanctioned as sponsors of terrorism. “If states and other institutional investors start demanding funds that are screened like this,” state Treasurer Sarah Steelman told AP, “there will be those people stepping up to the plate like State Street.” Under the plan, once State Street identifies a terrorist-tied company, it will switch investments to a similarly performing company with no such ties, or sell the stock and increase shares in other companies in its portfolio. New York City already has a similar system, AP says.
