Impact investing: profit-seeking ESG investments gain traction in Hong Kong as sustainability issues grab attention
- Asian markets are poised for growth in impact investing, whose ingredients are embedded in its ‘culture of philanthropy and responsibility to the community’
- Asia’s younger generation has greater awareness about sustainability issues, but they often struggle with how to implement the ideas in their businesses and family offices
Hong Kong can leverage its vibrant ecosystem for global family offices and asset owners and become a hub for the trillion dollar impact investing industry as investors embrace the fast-growing strategy, which produces social or environmental benefits while yielding profits.
The concept of impact investing, a term coined two decades ago by The Rockefeller Foundation, the US-based philanthropic organisation, has gained in popularity in recent years as investors have started to measure the effect their investments have on society and the planet, not just on corporate returns.
“In Asia, we are not starting from zero since we already have the basic ingredient for impact investing, which is our culture of philanthropy and responsibility to the community,” Katy Yung, managing partner at Sustainable Finance Initiative (SFI), an impact investing network established in 2018 by RS Group. “After the [coronavirus] pandemic, it is clear that more people are doing and thinking about impact investing seriously.”
Yung was speaking with the Post ahead of the two-day SFI Asian Family Impact Summit on Wednesday. RS Group is a family office chaired by Annie Chen, the youngest daughter of Thomas Chen Tseng-tao, co-founder of property developer Hang Lung Group.
Asia’s younger generation has greater awareness about sustainability issues, said Chen, whose RS Group focuses on sustainability. 91 per cent of the group’s portfolio is invested in sustainable and targeted impact strategies, across all asset classes. The remaining 9 per cent consisted of cash and legacy real assets.