A year ago this month, two of our key Moderators from the Americas event in June announced their intent to launch a diverse, women-led, investment platform specializing in ESG-anchored portfolios and research for institutional investors and wealth managers.

They said ‘ Our vision was and is to create the asset management firm of the future, and to compel asset owners to act in their capacity to drive purposeful change; at the same time, carving a path for women and minorities in financial services for generations to come.’

That message was reiterated in the way they each moderated their panels with key speakers. Heidi Ridley led a panel focussing on the phrase ‘Build Back Better’ with panellists from the OECD, United Nations and Rockerfeller Foundation while co-Founder Kathryn MacDonald discussed ‘Unintended Consequences’ with her panel from Australia, the UK, the USA and Amsterdam. All this while working on this significant deal with HSBC. Bravo Ladies, Bravo!

They go on to explain more about that deal ‘We are delighted to announce that through a strategic partnership with HSBC Asset Management (HSBC AM), that vision is now a reality. In 2020, HSBC AM set out its strategy to shape the market for sustainable investing through leadership in policy and industry engagement, company engagement and by embedding ESG across its investments.’

Unsurprisingly given their track record, Heidi says ‘We are united in our deep commitment to positive progress on ESG issues, diversity and the power of inclusive culture, and continuing to play a strong advocacy role within the industry on these topics. These shared values form a strong foundation for the cultural and philosophical alignment between us. Importantly, they are fully supportive of our vision and mission, enabling us to operate entirely independently, in our brand and decision making.’

The business and investment case for diversity and inclusion continues to strengthen and it is becoming increasingly more critical for experienced women and other minorities to make a difference in broadening the decision making in our industry.  Unfortunately, the impact of COVID-19 has set us even further behind in our efforts to deliver on diversity and inclusion objectives. We will continue to advocate for the transformation of our industry, not only towards one that understands the critical role capital markets play in driving positive progress on environmental, social and governance issues, but one that also better represents the perspectives and backgrounds of current and future investors. 

The people and societies we serve are at the heart of everything we do. We see a clear advantage to investing in firms that will be on the right side of history. We bring passion, innovation, and determination to building an investment capability focused on leveraging the economic power of ESG to design portfolios with purpose that offer superior long-term investment results.

In appreciation of the support they’ve received in brining this about, the Co Founders have said to all their supporters ‘We thank you sincerely for the incredible support and words of encouragement you have given us as we worked toward this important milestone, and we look forward to sharing new developments as we continue our journey.’