Wespath Benefits and Investments

Non-profit agency of the United Methodist Church

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Wespath Benefits and InvestmentsAbbreviation| Wespath

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Formation| 1908; 117 years ago (1908)
Type| Non-profit pension fund
Location|

* Glenview, Illinois, United States

CEO

| Andrew Hendren
Subsidiaries| Wespath Institutional Investments
Affiliations| United Methodist Church
Website| wespath.org

Formerly called

| General Board of Pension and Health Benefits

Wespath Benefits and Investments (formerly known as General Board of Pension and Health Benefits) is an American non-profit pension agency affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Wespath supervises and administers retirement plans, investment funds, health and welfare benefit plans for active and retired clergy and lay employees of the Church. In accordance with its fiduciary duties, Wespath administers benefit plans and invests using Christian finance principles.

As of 2018[update], it held approximately $28 billion in assets for over 100,000 participants and over 120 United Methodist-affiliated institutions.

## History

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Established in 1908 its current head office is in Glenview, Illinois.[1]

## Sustainable Investment

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Wespath follows the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights for socially responsible investing.[2]

It identifies several countries as having "prolonged and systematic patterns of human rights violations,"[3] including the Central African Republic, Israel, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia.[4] A total of 44 companies are excluded from its investment funds including all of Israel's major banks. The board also excludes a further nine companies due to their contribution to global warming.[5][6]

## References

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1. ^ "Wespath Benefits and Investments - Wespath Benefits and Investments". www.wespath.org.
2. ^ UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
3. ^ "Human Rights - Sustainable Investment - Wespath Benefits and Investments". www.gbophb.org.
4. ^ "Human Rights Guideline Implementation - Wespath Investment Management". www.wespath.com.
5. ^ Press, The Associated; Ravid, Barak (10 May 2018). "U.S. Church Puts Five Israeli Banks on Investment Blacklist". Haaretz.
6. ^ "Health Index". ABC News.

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