The Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) has launched the CAF Investment Account, a secure, digital investment service for charities of all sizes in the UK.
The service with enable registered charities across the UK to apply and gain access to the biggest selection of charity-specific investment funds available to buy and manage in one place online, CAF said.
The CAF Investment Account will enable charities to research, manage and trade investments in one place for the first time.
There is no minimum investment amount, the group revealed. It will provide access to over 4,000 funds, including some which are only available to charitable organisations, like Common Investment Funds, (CIFs) and share classes of funds which would not normally be available to small and medium charities.
It will also allow charities to invest directly in stocks and bonds listed on the London Stock Exchange and other global markets.
Features of the account include an online investment service powered by the investment platform provider Interactive Investor, and mandatory dual authorisation.
CAF chief executive John Low said: “We are excited to be launching the first secure, digital trading platform designed exclusively for charities. With interest rates are at record lows, it has become more challenging for charities to maximise the return on money donated by their supporters in order to make a bigger difference.
“CAF has a long history of helping charities tackle their financial challenges and we believe there’s a huge amount of untapped potential for charities to make more use of investments to help support their work.
“Whatever the size of a charity, and however much they have to invest, the CAF Investment Account has been designed to make investing money easy, time-efficient and cost-effective. Charities signing up will have access to the most comprehensive range of charity-specific funds anywhere online.”
