The latest review of the FTSE4Good index has seen 24 companies expelled for no longer meeting its corporate responsibility standards. These include Honda and Toyota, which failed to meet human rights criteria, and Alltel and Capital One Financial, did not meet environmental standards.
The review also admitted 42 new companies to the Index. These include four from the US - Dell, McAfee, MEMC Electronics Materials and NYSE Euronext - as well as nine from Japan and 22 from the UK. However, the bulk of companies deleted from the index - 16 out of the 24 - were also from the US.
It is not the deletion or admittance of new companies that has proved particularly controversial, but the maintenance of US meat processor Smithfield Foods as a constituent of the index. In a letter to Mark Makepeace, chief executive of the FTSE group, campaigning organisation Human Rights Watch argued the decision to retain Smithfield in the index raises serious questions about the interpretation and application of its social screening criteria.
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