The biggest ethical investing event in this region this year is happening in Melbourne on September 3 and 4.

The Ethical Investment Association is holding its second annual conference in conjunction with the United Nations Environment Programme.

The two day conference includes a number of major offshore speakers from Canada, the US, Asia, and the UK, plus workshops on institutional and retail investor issues.

Keynote speakers include the president of the Domini Social Equity Fund, Amy Domini, and Penny Shepherd, the executive director of the UK Social Investment Forum.

BT's parent to demutualise
BT Funds Management's parent company, The Principal Financial Group, is proceeding with demutualisation in the United States and plans to list early next year.

Policyholders have voted overwhelmingly in favour of plans to convert the mutual into a company. In total 92.2% of votes were cast in favour of demutualisation.

"We are very pleased with the results of the vote, which demonstrates policyholder confidence in the fairness of our demutualisation plan, as well as in the direction and future of The Principal," Principal and chief executive officer J Barry Griswell said.

The Prinicipal Group is now awaiting approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

FAB's building plans
Christchurch-based software company FAB has launched a package which allows users to create and design financial plans.

FAB's Brendan Canton says the package, PlanBuilder, makes it easy to prepare a comprehensive financial plan covering investment retirement savings, insurance. It also records cash flows.

PlanBuilder fully integrates with FAB's Virgil database package to create FAB Enchilada.