Daiwa Securities - Impact Investment: Social Contribution through Investment

Daiwa Securities Group, a major investment trust firm in Japan, announced in its CSR report for the fiscal year 2011 (April 2010 - March 2011) that the company's cumulative sales of impact investment bonds reached 334.4 billion yen as of March 2011. Impact investment bonds are financial products whose purpose is to contribute to society by investing solely in activities that target social issues, such as poverty and environmental degradation, while generating profit.

Assets that use negative screening, a conventional Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) method in which entities and activities that may negatively affect society (e.g., the tobacco industry) are excluded from investment, globally amount to several hundred trillion yen, or several trillion U.S. dollars. Compared to negative screening, impact investment focuses on "impacting society" in more direct ways by encouraging positive action from entrepreneurs.

The concept of impact investment has become widely known since September 2009, when the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) was officially established during the 5th Clinton Global Initiative hosted by former United States president Bill Clinton.

Daiwa Securities leads the impact investment initiative in Japan, offering a range of products that include Green World Bank Bonds, which address global warming, and Water Bonds, for water-related issues in the world. The Group hopes to continue its efforts to promote socially responsible investment to tackle poverty, environmental issues, and various other social issues.

Nomura Holdings Starts Sale of Green IFC Bonds (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/en/pages/030889.html

Posted: 2012/01/22 06:00:15 AM