Indeed, we are just at the beginning of an educational and bridge-building dialogue between impact fund managers and investors. To give some background, impact investing got off the ground around the year 2007 and for a long time was limited to private markets. Only quite recently was impact investing extended to listed equity, a development that has broadened out the sector and brought its disciplined approach to a wider investing public.
There is significant momentum for this spread to continue, so much so that we could end up with regional impact funds and different areas of impact that investors and end clients can focus on. The quality of our data, the disclosure and the impact measurement are key to the way we want to invest at UBP, and the bar will no doubt be raised further in the future, as investors will want to know that when they buy an impact fund, it follows the full spectrum of rigorous criteria. You can’t ever drop your standards, as Rupert concluded.
Key takeaways from the panel session on impact investing in listed equities at the Sustainable Investment Festival.
Rupert Welchman
Portfolio Manager
Impact Equities
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