Asia-based investors have the greatest appetite for impact investing, suggests a recently published study.
The report from Swiss asset manager Vontobel surveyed more than 200 institutional investors worldwide and found that Europe leads the way, with 70% of the surveyed investors allocating to impact funds. However, the survey suggests that Asia investors are rapidly gaining ground.
As many as 92% of Asian investors plan to allocate to impact investing via private markets, while 72% will do the same via public markets.
One reason for the increased enthusiasm for impact investing in the region via public markets is the broadened definition of ‘fiduciary duty’, which now includes assessing impact, as cited by 54% of investors in Asia, more than the number of investors in Europe and the US combined.
The survey also looked at the challenges around impact investing and found that the biggest issues for investors are a lack of reliable data, poor transparency around benchmarks and a wide range of different approaches from asset managers.
According to Vontobel’s head of listed impact at Vontobel Pascal Dudle, greater transparency is “key to building investor trust and confidence”.
©2023 funds global asia 
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