Firms regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are expected to take on a stewardship role in delivering sustainable economic growth, which will benefit UK consumers and businesses in all regions. Both the UK government’s Transition Plan Taskforce and the FCA have recently shared content on putting together a blueprint to ensure this
ESG
Shaping a sustainable financial ecosystem: how to integrate ESG factors
By Mehrnaz Afshar, Trish O'Donnell & Ranajoy Basu on
Read time: 3 minutes 30 seconds
The appetite for ethical finance shows no sign of slowing. But as the interest in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) finances rises, so too do concerns about impact- and green-washing: the practice of making false or misleading claims about apparent ethical credentials.
Naturally, as an embryonic sector, many complex questions about ESG investment remain unexplored. Institutions are thus actively navigating this constantly evolving landscape in order to develop a financial ecosystem where investments are, as the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, put it, “both financially rewarding and environmentally sustainable”.
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Impact Finance Series: The Spectrum of Capital
By Andrzej Janiszewski & Priya Taneja on
Read time – 2 minutes 30 seconds
Social finance, impact investing, blended finance…the endless industry jargon and terminology in this emerging asset class can be confusing. In this series, our industry leading global Social Impact Finance group looks to demystify the social finance market and its growing importance for financial institutions and investors.
Greed is no longer good. The next generation of investors increasingly demand that their investments do more than just generate a financial return. Demand for social investment products is driven, in part, by millennials who prefer to invest in alignment with personal values. In response to this growing demand, chatter in financial markets is awash with talk of the ‘spectrum of capital’ – a map of the broad range of risk and return strategies that exist within impact investing markets, and how those relate to wider capital market strategies. The 2014 report from the G8 Social Impact Investment Taskforce, Asset Allocation Working Group, illustrated the landscape based on both investor financial objectives and impact (see diagram below).
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