Financial Standard Comments - Impact investing emerges as asset class

Comment by John Hewison ()

John Hewison () — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 14:20:15 +1000

What a joke this is. If the suggested abuse through the use of off-market transfers are such a problem, then it applies to all such transactions not just SMSFs. So if the practice is to be banned it should be banned totally, otherwise SMSF operators are being subjected to unfair discrimination. The reality is that the incidence of the suggested abuses is no doubt a minute percentage of these transactions and their ban would result in unfairly increased brokerage ccosts to SMSFs and the removal of a perfectly legitimate and commmercial advantages available to all through the strategic transfer of assets. We should be in the business of encouraging the retention of assets and enhancing outcomes.

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Comment by Lauren Burnhill ()

Lauren Burnhill () — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 05:13:19 +1000

As I understand it, impact investing is a THEME that spans multiple asset classes, not an asset class in and of itself. My colleagues and I look at social impact investing as a way to using market forces as a way to ensure that priority goods and services (think health, housing, education, not just microfinance) to the working poor, a potential market of 1.2 - 3 billion people.
Anything can be an impact investment if ESG objectives are added to financial targets, which is part of why I refer to what I do as "social impact" investment, which has a distinct target market (working poor). But either way, it's a theme, not an asset class.

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Comment by Charly Kleissner ()

Charly Kleissner () — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 04:11:26 +1000

Impact Investing is not an asset class, but an overlay over all existing asset classes. We (the KL Felicitas Foundation) have been making impact investments in cash, debt, public equity, private equity, commodities, alternative assets, etc. for almost a decade.

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