The World Bank has approved Fortunis Capital as one of only nine UK signatories to a global impact investment standard that measures positive social or environmental change and strong financial returns.
The London-based venture capital firm was accepted after a detailed application process and due diligence. It is aligned to the highest standard of impact investment alongside 100 global signatories including Black Rock Investments, Credit Suisse, BNP Paribas, The European Investment Bank and the Dutch Development Bank.
The operating principles for impact management were launched by the World Bank and sister organisation International Finance Corporation in Washington.
These provide a transparent and auditable framework to ensure impact considerations are purposefully integrated throughout the investment life cycle.
Fortunis Capital are now part of a global collaborative community aiming to foster increased mobilisation of trillions of dollars of capital to tackle financial, social and health inequalities.
All signatories must publicly demonstrate their commitment to implementing a global standard for managing investments for impact. These include transparent, independent verification of each investment in achieving impact.
Sue Lawrence, Director, Fortunis Group, says: “Fortunis Capital’s mission to raise the standards of impact investment align with World Bank principles to encourage full transparency and accountability through regular audits and portfolio reporting.
“We are delighted that the World Bank Group through IFC has accepted us as signatories to their principles alongside so many major global players. This underlines our commitment to delivering returns while measurably demonstrating to investors how they are making a positive change to the society.
“Covid-19 has accelerated the trend towards impact investing with a market estimated to be worth USD2.1trillion worldwide, although only a quarter of that is clearly measured for its impact, both for development impact and financial returns.
“The principles assist investors in identifying investments that are being managed for impact and help reduce the dilution of the term ‘impact’ in the marketplace. Adopting a global ‘gold standard’ is an important step in demonstrating the real value of impact investing.”
In May, Fortunis Capital announced it was lead investor in GBP15million of funding for Karma, the fintech aiming to disrupt the payday loan market by offering interest-free advances.
IFC, a sister organisation of the World Bank, is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. Last year, they invested more than $19billion in private companies and financial institutions in developing countries, leveraging the power of the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity.
Tags ESG & Responsible Investing