Dear NAB friends,

Impact investing is booming and this also attracts not-so-scrupulous asset managers. As shown in a recent research "The Impact of impact Funds" only one-third of impact funds actually meet the outlined impact requirements. The GSG brought some attention to impact integrity and transparency during the first part of their annual summit. We welcome you to this newsletter and wish you a good read.

- Laure Wessemius-Chibrac, Managing Director

CAPITAL REQUIREMENTS

The capital requirements working group is successfully moving forward. The analysis of the Solvency II directive is almost finished and the focus shifts toward the new Dutch pension agreement. Furthermore, the group is reaching out to potential data providers in order to build a risk assessment model based on the insights from the policy analyses and expert interviews. Conversations with several industry players have shown that the topic raises interest all throughout Europe. This confirms us in our research and hints at a big potential for leverage.

NAB SPRING MEMBERS' MEETING

The NAB Spring Members' Meeting took place in Scheveningen on the 16th of June. We would like to express our gratitude to all Members who took part in the event. The event began with an update of activities from the NAB as well as updates from the members of the NAB community. A discussion about the role of the NAB community in support of pipeline development for the ecosystem followed, where very important points were brought up by old and new members alike. It was a pleasure to take part in beach volleyball and have friendly drinks and snacks with everyone. Notes from the event will be available soon.

A FATAL BLOW FOR IMPACT INVESTING IN AIFMD

The EU capital market has the potential to make money matter for its corporates of all sizes, citizens, and the planet they live on. Money could be flowing across the EU so that it can benefit consumers, investors, and companies, regardless of where they are located. However, while the European Commission – with its torrent of sustainability initiatives, such as the Sustainable Finance Action Plan and the associated SFDR and Taxonomy legislation – claims to be trying to encourage sustainable and impact investing and significantly improve the sustainability of European society, it also put forward legislation that – if adopted without amendment – could mean the end for several popular impact funds, investing in energy transition projects and/or to small business owners in developing countries. This can't have been the intention of Brussels.

You can read or join the other 130 other signatories of the petition here. We are very grateful that the Spanish NAB and the French NAB have also endorsed this petition!

GSG IMPACT SUMMIT SERIES PART 1 - FINANCING A BETTER WORLD THROUGH IMPACT TRANSPARENCY

The first part of the 3-part GSG Impact Series took place on the 15th of June. The need for the advancement of the global impact investing movement through transparency and steps towards for improvement are as crucial as ever, with the climate crisis and social issues set to bring yet more challenges to nature, people, and their livelihoods. We heard from a vast variety of impact leaders on how impact transparency can be achieved, the role of regulators, developments on impact valuation, and the efforts to implement this agenda globally. Laure Wessemius-Chibrac, the Managing Director of the NAB was among the many inspiring speakers at the event. Her video on the importance of impact integrity and transparency will be available on our website from the 15th of July. You can find out more information on the website of the Series.

MEMBERS NEWS

We are delighted to announce two great additions to our community: The Draper Richards Kaplan (DRK) Foundation - a global venture philanthropy firm supporting early stage, high impact social enterprises, and NLC, which builds ventures and advances health for patients around the world, every day by bringing more healthtech inventions to the patient. 

Welcome on our joint journey for a positive impact!

TEAM NEWS

At the end of June our Impact Investing Intern - Beau Hannewijk, finished her internship and Komal Goyal joined us. Thank you, Beau, and welcome Komal!

The NAB is also looking for a new Impact Investing Intern! Do you know a Master's/Bachelor student in Finance or Economy (in a Dutch or European university) looking to change the world? Please let us know. Click on the button below to see the vacancy.

INTERESTING PUBLICATIONS

The Impact of Impact Funds – A Global Analysis of Funds With Impact-Claim

 In this paper, Scheitza et al. analyze 185 impact funds based on an established classification scheme that outlines the requirements for factual impact investments and find that only one third of the impact funds meet the outlined impact requirements. The share is equally low for funds classified under Article 9 of the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). When looking at the different asset classes, the results show how much more relevant private equity and private debt are for impact-generating investments than public equity and bonds. Read the paper here.

Impact investors rally against ‘small but potentially fatal’ part of proposed EU legislation

The EU has put forward legislation that, if adopted without amendment, could mean the end for some impact investment funds. Impact investors are calling on EU legislators to correct a fatal flaw in the proposal, writes Hans van de Veen.

Read the article about the harmful legislation here.

How Green is my Money? - an interview on BBC Radio

Make your finances work harder against climate change. Tom Heap speaks to Richard Curtis, British film director and architect of Comic Relief, about his Make My Money Matter campaign. This encourages everyone to find out where their pension money goes. He also speaks to the boss of a UK bank, Bevis Watts, and to the campaign director of switchit.green about how easy it is to move your bank account elsewhere. A special episode for anyone worried about what their money is - or isn't - doing to keep the planet green.

Listen here.

2022 EVENTS AND PROGRAM

GSG NAB Dialogue 

Theme: Measuring Market Maturity

Date: 6th of July

Online NAB members-only event

An introduction exchange with CGAP new CEO

Theme: Meeting Sophie Sirtaine 

Date and Location: postponed to the Fall

GSG Impact Summit Series PART 2: 

Theme: Boosting Capital Allocation in Emerging Markets

Date: 22nd of September

Online event

Geodata for Agriculture and Water Conference 2022

 Theme: Space for Food Security and Inclusive Finance

Date: 3rd-6th of October 2022

Location: Utrecht

GIIN Investor Forum and ImpactFest The Hague 

Date: 12th/13th of October

Location: The Hague

NAB Fall Members’ Meeting

Theme: 2023 Action Agenda

Date: 13th of October

NAB members-only

GSG Impact Summit Series PART 3: 

Theme: Townhall Hosted by Sir Ronald Cohen, GSG Chair

Date: 22nd of November

Online event

Want to become a member? For enquiries e-mail us at contact@nabimpactinvesting.nl. 

We are grateful for the support of our partners!