PLY: Bipartisan politics supporting the movement, as SIBs are promoting health, aiding criminal justice reform and there’s a proposal for an Australian “Big Society Capital” clone… it may be foggy in Europe but the weather appears clear for SIB progress!
HESTA To Explore Funding Needs Of Health Employers
David Rowley – Investment Magazine
HESTA is seeking to invest in the funding needs of the health and community services sector, where most of its members are employed.
The freedom to investigate such possibilities arises after the restructuring and expanding of the investment team to allow chief investment officer, Rob Fowler, to take on a more strategic role.
Debby Blakey, CEO of HESTA, said: “If we can look for opportunities where we can achieve our financial objective of delivering a great return, but also deliver on the objective of actually aligning ourselves with our members, this is an absolute win-win.”
Opportunities which fall under the description of impact investing and which include real assets, social impact bonds and equity will be exploited through the strong connections and insights the board has with health and community services.
A Bi-Partisan Approach To Criminal Justice Reform
Ras Baraka & Mark Luttrell – PolitickerNJ
Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam recently convened a Task Force on Sentencing and Recidivism, staffed by the Vera Institute of Justice. This task force’s recommendations will increase fairness in our justice system and expand opportunities for reentry—specifically the exploration of social impact bonds as a funding mechanism for reentry efforts.
First State Super Backs Big Society Capital-Style Social Investment Bank Proposal
Vibeka Mair – Responsible Investor
A high-level Australian impact investment body including First State Super, the National Australia Bank and Impact Investing Australia has this week launched a plan for setting up a Big Society Capital-style A$300m social investment bank in the country.
Not-for-profit First State Super has more than 750,000 members and is one of Australia’s largest superannuation funds with more than A$52bn (€33.5bn) in assets.
It comes as the Australian government plans to amend legislation to boost investment in social impact bonds and prepare a discussion paper on impact investing following a sweeping inquiry into the country’s financial system.