Theresa May has commissioned an industry taskforce on social impact investment, led by vice-chair of Allianz Global Investors Elizabeth Corley.
Corley was the chair of the advisory group that published a report on ‘Growing a Culture of Social Impact Investing in the UK’, which suggested that trustees receive training on social impact and engage with scheme members to align non-financial values.
The government said the taskforce will work on “generating a faster rate of innovation in the financial services industry”, so that it provides products that offer savers and investors the option of making a social impact.
The taskforce will need to provide a progress report to culture secretary Matt Hancock and economic secretary John Glen by the summer. A policy response by the government is also expected in the summer.
An international social impact investment taskforce was established by the G8 in 2013 to “catalyse the development of the social impact investment market”, but was superseded by the Global Social Impact Investment Steering Group in August 2015. The taskforce reported in September 2014.
The report, ‘Impact Investing: The Invisible Heart of Markets’, had a number of recommendations, including defining the fiduciary duty of foundation and pension fund trustees to allow investment in impact assets, and creating “a social investment wholesaler to act as a market champion, potentially financed by unclaimed assets in bank accounts, insurance companies and pension funds”.
The government said in January it will seize assets from bank and building society accounts that have been untouched for more than 15 years, to help it to tackle issues like homelessness. In February, it was reported that a similar scheme could be introduced for pension assets.
