Impact investing will boost global Islamic finance

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Financial Markets ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Islamic Finance ◽  
Financial Assets ◽  
Financial Return ◽  
Impact Investing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Thomson Reuters ◽  
Social Impact Bonds ◽  
Investment Choices

Subject Impact investing and Islamic finance. Significance The share of Islamic financial assets remains limited, currently accounting for just 1.27% of global financial assets, according to the latest Zawya Thomson Reuters report on the 'State of the Islamic Economy'. However, new opportunities are ahead. Impact investing, defined by its ambition of achieving the dual goals of measurable positive social and environmental impact, and financial return, is a rapidly growing segment of international financial markets. It offers unique opportunities for Islamic investors looking for investment choices that meet the goals of an Islamic value-based investment approach. Impacts Impact investing will create impetus for further product development in the Islamic finance sector. New deals are in the pipeline after record innovation in 2015 in social-impact bonds that are compliant with Islamic financial principles. They will increase the attractiveness of the Islamic finance sector to a whole range of investors.

Impact investing in South Africa: managing tensions between financial returns and social impact

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 397-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eunivicia Matlhogonolo Mogapi ◽  
Margaret Mary Sutherland ◽  
Anthony Wilson-Prangley
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
Financial Returns ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Financial Return ◽  
Impact Investing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Impact investment is an emergent field worldwide and it can play an especially important role in Africa. The aim of this study was to examine how impact investors in South Africa manage the tensions between financial returns and social impact. Design/methodology/approach The research was based on 15 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders in the impact investment community in South Africa to understand the related challenges, trade-offs and tensions. Findings There are two opposing views expressed as to whether the tensions between financial return and social impact result in trade-offs. It is proposed that impact investors embrace this duality and seek to approach it through a contingency and a paradox view. The tensions can be approached by focussing on values alignment, contracting processes, engaged leadership and sector identification. The authors integrate the findings into a proposed framework for effective tension management in an impact investment portfolio. Research limitations/implications This study was limited to selected South African interviewees. It would be valuable to extend the study to other African countries. Practical implications The issue of values alignment between investors, fund managers and investee firms is an important finding for practice. As is the four-part iterative framework for sensing the operating environment, defining impact, organising internally and defining the investment approach. Originality/value This study contributes empirical evidence to scholarship around organisational tensions, especially work in hybrid organisations. It affirms the value of a nuanced application of paradox theory. It examines these tensions through the lived experience of impact investing professionals in an emerging market context.

Institutionalizing social impact investing: implications for Islamic finance

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 226-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Kappen ◽  
Matthew Mitchell ◽  
Kavilash Chawla
Keyword(s):  
Social Impact ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Islamic Finance ◽  
Investment Strategies ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Impact Investing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Finance Industry ◽  
Regulatory Frameworks ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the institutionalization of screening and metrics in conventional finance and reflect upon the implications for Islamic finance.Design/methodology/approachThe study involves the analysis of archival data, interviews and fieldwork with current impact investors in North America and the European Union to trace the historical development of impact investing screening and metrics.FindingsFirst, the paper explores how conventional investors have applied positive and negative screens in the creation of their values/mission-based investment strategies. This is followed by a historical analysis of the development and implementation of impact metrics and regulatory frameworks that influenced the growth of conventional impact investing. The possible benefits of learning from these experiences for the Islamic finance industry are then considered. The paper concludes with an analysis of the potential value of mission/values-based investing for the economic development of the Middle East and North Africa region.Research limitations/implicationsThough not a comprehensive study of institutionalization, this study supports recent calls for more intentional use of capital for blended returns within Islamic markets. To support these initiatives, it provides scholars and practitioners with multiple recommended points of entry into this growing market.Originality/valueThere has been scant organizational research examining the development of best practices within the impact investment community and how these might be applied to other contexts such as Islamic finance.

scholarly journals Preserving the Integrity of Social Impact Investing: Towards a Distinctive Implementation Strategy

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2852
Author(s):  
Irene Bengo ◽  
Alice Borrello ◽  
Veronica Chiodo
Keyword(s):  
Asset Allocation ◽  
Implementation Strategy ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Social Risk ◽  
Cultural Shift ◽  
Financial Return ◽  
Impact Investing ◽  
Top Managers ◽  
Specific Practice ◽  
Definition Of

Social impact investing (SII) is a strategy of asset allocation that aims to generate social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. Compared to other approaches of sustainable finance it holds an enormous potential of generating solutions to societal challenges. However, scholars have claimed that social impact often just employs logic upheld by the mainstream investment approach. Therefore, the paper investigates the assumption that SII has not developed a distinctive implementation strategy able to translate the prioritization of social impact into practice and how to overcome this issue. The thematic analysis of data collected through 105 interviews with Italian SII financiers and the top managers of social ventures allowed us to identify three features of an SII tailored practice: promoting a cultural shift of intermediaries, adopting a coopetition approach, and integrating the social impact in the terms of the financial transaction. Lastly, the paper drafts a research agenda to enhance the proper theorization of SII focusing on the definition of social risk, social return, and governance mechanisms. The key contribution of this article is confirming the lack of an SII-specific practice able to endogenize the intent of prioritizing social impact and providing suggestions to prevent the risk of impact washing.

scholarly journals Social impact bonds and fast policy: Analyzing the Australian experience

2020 ◽  
pp. 0308518X2094152
Author(s):  
Jacob Broom
Keyword(s):  
Social Services ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Document Analysis ◽  
Impact Investing ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
Social Impact Bonds ◽  
Australian Experience ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Scholarly Attention ◽  
Do So

Social impact bonds (SIBs) are attracting an increasing amount of critical scholarly attention. As an outcomes-based mechanism for financing social services, SIBs financialize social policy through the logic of impact investing. Responding to calls for attention to the politics of SIBs’ development, and breaking with the literature’s focus on cases from the UK and USA, this article explores the emergence of SIBs in Australia. It employs the concept of “fast policy,” which theorizes why and how policies move across borders, and describes the contemporary conditions that enable them to do so. Using document analysis, the article explores the discursive devices and practices used to justify the “pulling in” of SIBs to states in Australia. It finds that key actors in the Australian social impact world justified SIBs’ adoption using their synergy with powerful, popular policy discourses and practices, rather than engaging in political debates about their desirability. The Australian experience illuminates the power of intermediaries and the investors they represent over the design and proliferation of SIBs, as well as the roles played by austerity politics, policy experimentalism, and fast policy infrastructures in producing a context in which SIBs could be made real.

More than money: exploring the role of investment advisors for sustainable investing

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 195-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Falko Paetzold ◽  
Timo Busch ◽  
Marc Chesney
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Financial Markets ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Capital Allocation ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Financial Return ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Private Investors

Purpose – Investment advisors play a significant role in financial markets, yet the determinants of their behavior have not been explored in detail. The purpose of this paper is to explore the determinants of how actively advisors communicate about sustainable investing with their clients, and differences in the preferences of advisors compared to investors. Design/methodology/approach – Based on a survey with 296 retail and private banking investment advisors, this study employs an ordinary least squares regression model to explore the determinants of advisors activity in communicating about sustainable investing (SI) with their clients, differences in the aspects that matter to advisors and investors, and the role of the complexity of sustainability. Findings – Advisors activity in communicating about SI relates to their expectation of SI regarding financial return, real-world impact, and the fuzziness and trustworthiness of SI. Advisors appear not to be influenced by expected risk and their personal values, which runs against prior research findings and the interest of investors. Research limitations/implications – Future research should assess cultural differences and explore asymmetries between advisors and investors in regard to the role of volatility, values, impact measurement, and complexity. Practical implications – Investment advisors underweighting aspects related to risk and self-transcendent values relative to their clients might limit the suitability of clients ' portfolios, skew capital allocation, and depress the role of SI in financial markets. Generalized to salespeople this behavior might depress the market success of products related to sustainability at large. Social implications – The findings and their generalization indicate that salespeople might systematically deviate from their clients’ interests in regard to social responsibility. Advisors and salespeople in their mediating role might be an important barrier to sustainable development. Originality/value – This is the first quantitative study that explores the decision-making by investment advisors in the context of SI, and as such answers to specific calls in literature to explore the micro-foundations of decision making in regard to SI and social responsibility, and on the relationship between private investors and investment advisors. This study is based on unique and original empirical data on advisors that work with retail and wealthy private investors.

'Brexit' fallout could hit EU financial assets widely

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Financial Markets ◽  
Current Account Deficit ◽  
Financial Assets ◽  
Government Bonds ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
Run Up ◽  
High Yields ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Eu

Subject The potential fallout from 'Brexit' on both UK and EU-wide financial assets. Significance In the run-up to the June 23 referendum on the United Kingdom's EU membership, the 'Brexit' risk has been weighing on UK confidence and investment. The reaction in financial markets has been more benign, with the pound rising by 3.6% against the dollar since end-February and a 54-basis-point (bp) year-to-date fall in the ten-year gilts yield. The absence of a 'Brexit premium' suggests investors may be underpricing both the UK-specific and EU-wide risks associated with a UK exit from the EU at a time of heightened market volatility. Impacts UK government bonds, along with their US equivalents, will remain attractive to investors because of their relatively high yields. Meanwhile, euro-area and Japanese bonds, whose yields are negative or slightly positive at best, will remain unattractive. The prolonged uncertainty during the post-referendum renegotiations could shave 1.0-1.5 pp off UK GDP growth by end-2017. The wide UK current account deficit and the country's reliance on foreign capital underscore the risks associated with Brexit.

Social impact investing as a neoliberal construction: ego and altruism in the post-colonial space of Oaxaca, Mexico

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Farzad Haider Alvi
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Global South ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Impact Investing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Financial Metrics ◽  
Global North ◽  
Flow Through

Purpose This paper examines social impact investing (SII), a growing source of investment from the Global North to the Global South celebrated as a new way of doing good in low-income countries, but bearing elements of neoliberalism that can reify post-colonial contexts. Design/methodology/approach A microfoundational, autoethnographic approach is used based on the author’s experiences and emotional epiphanies while engaged in an activist entrepreneurial enterprise. The author’s goal was to effect positive social change with Indigenous Mexican producers of mezcal liquor. Findings Despite the best of intentions and following best practices for SII, the expected altruistic outcomes were eclipsed by inadvertent post-colonial behaviours. Neoliberal foundations of financialization gave primacy to the perspectives and egos of the investors rather than meaningful impact for the Indigenous beneficiaries. Research limitations/implications Based on the findings, three areas are presented for further research. First, how Global North social impact investors balance the ego of their motivations with the altruism of intended outcomes for beneficiaries. Second, what ownership structures of Global North investments allow for social benefits to flow through to intended beneficiaries. Third, how post-colonial power imbalances can be redressed to give an equal position to Global South beneficiaries as people, rather than financial metrics indicating only that they have become less poor. Originality/value By using autoethnographic methods that expose the vulnerability of the researcher, unique insights are generated on what happens when good intentions meet with a post-colonial context. The neoliberal underbelly of SII is revealed, and ways to make improvements are considered.

scholarly journals Performance management in social impact bonds: how an outcomes-based approach shapes hybrid partnerships

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Dixon
Keyword(s):  
Performance Management ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Cultural Theory ◽  
World Views ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Social Impact Bonds ◽  
Cultural World

PurposeThis paper investigates how outcomes-based performance management (PM) regimes operate in the partnerships known as social impact bonds (SIBs), which bring together partners from the public, private and third sectors. The findings are analysed in the light of the different cultural world views of the partners.Design/methodology/approachPublished evaluations of 25 UK SIBs were analysed by a qualitative multiple case study approach. This study of secondary sources permitted the analysis of a wide range of SIB partnerships from near contemporary accounts.FindingsOutcomes frameworks led to rigorous PM regimes that brought the cultural differences between partners into focus. While partnerships benefitted from the variety of viewpoints and expertise, the differences in outlook simultaneously led to strains and tensions. In order to mitigate such tensions, some stakeholders conformed to the outlooks of others.Practical implicationsThe need to achieve a predefined set of payable outcomes embeds a “linear” view of intervention and effect on the SIB partners and a performance regime in which some partners dominate. In designing accountability systems for partnerships such as SIBs, commissioners should consider how the performance regime will affect the interests of all stakeholders.Originality/valueThis study adds to the cultural theory literature which has rarely considered three-way partnerships embodying hierarchical, individualist and egalitarian world views and how performance regimes operate in such partnerships. Three-way partnerships are thought to be rare and short-lived, but this empirical study shows that they can be successful albeit over a predefined lifespan.

Opening the Market for Impact Investments: The Need for Adapted Portfolio Tools

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Brandstetter ◽  
Othmar M. Lehner
Keyword(s):  
Social Impact ◽  
Evaluation Criteria ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Portfolio Risk ◽  
Impact Investing ◽  
Traditional Markets ◽  
Success Stories ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Impact Bonds ◽  
Overall Performance

AbstractSocial and environmental impact investing as an activity as well as a concept has grown in recognition on a truly global scale. Yet, apart from anecdotal success stories of some specialized forms such as social-impact bonds, little is known about the field and the complex interplay between agents, instruments and regulations. Neither the rationales of the various participants in the field, nor the evaluation criteria for some of its instruments have been scrutinized in-depth so far. Especially the important constructs of risk and returns from a financial as well as a social impact perspective have so far been used in differing fashions, thus rendering the applied logic constructs incompatible to each other. Compatibility, however, is a pre-requisite for the inclusion of impact investments into the portfolios of traditional institutional investors. Much can be gained from this, not only would a huge inflow of capital improve the social and environmental sector, but early evidence shows that the overall performance of mixed portfolios might profit because the experienced low correlation of impact investments to traditional markets reduces portfolio risk and increases sustainability. In addition, more and more investors demand ESG (environmental, social and governance) criteria to be considered when it comes to building portfolios because of the great opportunities provided.

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