InvestNow News 27th Sep – AMP Capital – Impact investing set to grow

25th Sep 2019 – Rebekah Swan – ESG Investment Specialist, NZ / Client Advocate / Head of Product

This week I was at the launch of the report Impact Investor Insights Aotearoa New Zealand 2019 – a study on the state of impact investing in New Zealand. This inaugural study was conducted by the Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA) in partnership with the University of Auckland, and was sponsored by AMP Capital.

The research is the first in-depth study of New Zealand’s impact investment market and charts investors’ awareness, interest and activity in impact investing. It also looks at how demand for impact investments is taking shape in New Zealand, and the prospects and challenges facing this emerging field.

It is pleasing to see the high level of awareness and interest in impact investing from a wide range of investor groups. Also encouragingly, the survey results paint a positive picture for the future of impact investment in New Zealand with the appetite for impact investment strong across all investors.

While it is still early days, there is the potential for an exponential increase in impact investment allocation over the next five or so years and this presents a significant opportunity for the financial services sector. The challenge will be the availability of investible deals because impact deals are slow and complex to put together. There are other challenges too, such as the interpretation of what constitutes an ‘impact investment’, ie does my capital make an incremental difference, and the methodology used for measuring social or environmental performance.

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