You Can’t Outsource Impact

You are putting a greater focus on social impact investing. Are there certain areas that you're emphasizing within that?

What we've done is social investing and social impact is very, very important today. You cannot leave it all to the government. Businesses have to partner with government and society to leave the world in a slightly better place than when we first came here.

Why do you say that?

Because I think this is a responsibility of society as a whole. You can't outsource this to the government. I think firms have to recognize and management have to recognize that you're not only accountable to shareholders, but you are accountable to society, accountable to your employees, to your customers. And many of our employees and our clients are millennials today. And we have to not only be able to run our business to maximize profits, but also to lead, to have an impact on society.

And over the next several decades, 30 trillion dollars are going to transition from baby boomers to millennials. And these millennials are going to work with their beliefs. And so firms have to recognize that, that how do you not only be profitable for your shareholders, but have a true impact on society whether that's climate change, affordable housing, financial inclusion, hunger. These are some of the things that... recycling of waste, these are some of the things that firms today have to get a grip on. It also reduces risk for them, to unlock shareholder value or their stock price. So it's not only good for society. It's even good financially.

So give me an example of what you're doing now in your current role in terms of making sure that that transition from the baby boomers to the millennials happens with the realm of what you're doing in social impact investing?

We have integrated responsible investing in our day to day business of running our business. And I can say proudly that today the entire trillion dollars has gotten embedded in a responsible investing overlay. We look at the United Nations 17 SDG, Sustainable Development Goals, and manage our business according to that. And we have roughly about five billion dollars directly connected to impact investing. And what I mean by that is microfinance in Africa or in India or Asia, where we're giving hundred dollar loans to women in a village who can buy a sewing machine or set up a tea stall. And there's enough empirical evidence now that if you make women financially independent, they spend more money on hygiene, health care, education. So there's a long term return to society. It drives the economy, it's good for society as a whole, and it's financially profitable.