GIIN Investor Forum 2018

“In a generation, impact investing will be widespread, and it will be business as usual to think about impact across your investment portfolio, from the largest institutions to everyday individuals who want to ensure they have the money to retire—but also to invest in the world they want to retire in.” GIIN CEO and co-founder Amit Bouri is the latest interview by Leslie P. Norton, profiling influencers in the investment world. In this interview for Barron’s, Bouri discusses different facets of impact investing, as well as his vision for the future of the industry. 

The GIIN’s new report, The Landscape for Impact Investing in Southeast Asia, was featured in a recent article in Asia Asset Management. Published together with Intellecap Advisory Services, the report takes a deep dive into impact investing activity in 11 Southeast Asian countries. Abhilash Mudaliar, GIIN Research Director, says “The countries across the region offer dynamic business environments with increasing entrepreneurial and investment activity focused on ensuring inclusive and sustainable economic development.”

The Ford Foundation is using its status to address inequality under the leadership of its Vice President of Inclusive Economies and Markets, Xavier de Souza Briggs. Briggs is focusing on incorporating social and economic justice into the spectrum of the foundation’s work. In this article, Briggs elaborates on the meaningful direction his work at Ford is taking.

While the impact investing industry as a whole is growing rapidly, smaller pockets of the sector are participating in trends that will further spur its growth. Devin Thorpe quotes 19 industry players on such trends they have observed or driven, which he believes will create more opportunities for impact investors and social entrepreneurs alike, as well as hope and guidance for “solving the world’s biggest problems.”

Axel Weber, chairman of UBS, identified three pieces of market infrastructure needed to spur impact investing’s continued growth and help its adoption into the mainstream. He articulates the need for common terms and definitions, performance benchmarks for increased market transparency, and more collaboration across public and private sectors.

In this Op-ed, the GIIN’s co-founder and CEO Amit Bouri emphasizes the need for a much better understanding of the benefits of impact investing. As detailed in the GIIN Roadmap for the Future of Impact Investing, Bouri underscores that education for both finance professionals and business managers is required to change how investors and business leaders think about society and the environment. He notes that while the industry has seen much success over the past ten years, “the current financial system is not serving the planet. It’s not serving the people. And it’s not serving investors.” Impact investing is a powerful solution, though in order to build a world where impact is integrated into all investment decisions, impact investing needs to scale at a much faster rate—and providing further education will help fuel the market’s growth.

Global demographic trends causing huge amounts of private wealth to shift to women and millennials are helping to drive the growth of the impact investing industry. It is estimated that women will hold about a third of the global total of private wealth by 2020 and about $7 trillion will be acquired by millennials. Both demographic groups are also likely to make investments aligned with their social and environmental values. This article elaborates on the influence of women and millennials, and proposes ways for the impact investing industry to capitalize on this momentum.

Cambridge University has recently committed to addressing climate change through divestment from fossil fuels in the university’s £3bn endowment fund, academic efforts to encourage environmental impact investment, and more. The University will also create a Centre for a Carbon Neutral Future as a home base for its sustainable energy research as a well as a platform for policy discussions, appoint an ESG officer, and aims to become carbon neutral by 2050, if not before. These commitments come after pressure from students and staff stemming from their concern over the university’s environmental impact.

The growth of the impact investing among high-net-worths in the U.S. is found to be largely driven by millennials. According to U.S. Trust’s annual wealth report, the vast majority of young investors include ESG or impact investments in their portfolios. In recent years, millennials have become more visible in the market, in terms of both presence and money invested, making this trend more noticeable. Read more about millennial’s interest in impact investments in the full article.

An impact-investing oriented professional designation for financial advisors was unveiled by the College of Financial Planning, in collaboration with the US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment. The designation, called the Chartered SRI Counselor (CSRIC), is aimed at financial advisors interested in demonstrating expertise in various responsible investing approaches. The course will likely be launched this fall.