Suchergebnisse

This book provides a detailed study of the social impact funds industry. In particular, chapters focus on: The contextualization of social impact funds within the social impact investment market; The exploration of features, investment strategy and classification of funds; An in-depth analysis of the emergent literature; An analysis of case studies of impact funds; A synthetic assessment of the industry, conducted through a cluster analysis; The exploration of investment strategy and mission consistency of funds active in the market aimed to show funds attitude to be defined as "impact-oriented funds"; The investigation of determinants of funds' target performance. This volume will be useful to scholars, students from different academic disciplines such as economics, finance, political science, entrepreneurship, and practitioners who are interested in impact investing and in the financing of social impact programs through impact-funds.

AbstractThis paper investigates whether the European Union policies to tackle climate change create or destroy value for shareholders over the years 2013–2018. Using the event study method, our results suggest that all the sectors were affected by at least one climate policy announcement and that negative effects were more common than positive effects, especially when the Paris Agreement came into force. Up until that point, the announcement of a new policy produced significant positive effects only on the most environmentally committed firms. Finally, data panel regressions reveal that the company's sector, more than its environmental commitment, played a central role in determining market reactions toward climate policies. Our paper contributes to the still limited debate on the relationship between environmental regulation and value for equity investors and opens up the debate on a topic yet to be explored: the mitigating role of the company's environmental commitment. Relevant implications for policy makers promoting a European sustainable economy are also discussed.

This book sheds light on current issues in sustainable finance through an in-depth analysis and discussion of relevant sustainable products and sustainable initiatives of several financial institutions. This edited collection critically presents and discusses several relevant theoretical issues, case studies of innovative financial products and sustainable institutions, as well as empirically investigates issues related to both financial and social performance. The book focuses on several innovative products across the sustainable finance ecosystem, including social impact bonds, crowdfunding, and green bonds. Similarly, the book spotlights the sustainable investment strategies of institutions ranging from family foundations to asset managers.

Chapter 1: Introduction -- Part I: Sustainable products -- Chapter 2: Who likes SIBs? A bibliometric analysis of academic literature -- Chapter 3: Fighting Poverty And Inequalities Through Social Impact Bonds: Learning From Case Studies For Supporting The Covid-19 Response -- Chapter 4.Green bonds capital returns: the impact of market and macroeconomic variables -- Part 2: Financial institutions and sustainable practices -- Chapter 5: Crowdlending's European regulation state of art, and the case of COLECTUAL as an official Spanish crowdlending platform -- Chapter 6: Understanding of Social Crowdfunding: The case of an Italian platform -- Chapter 7: Environmental, Social, and Governance Integration in Asset Management Strategy: The Case of Candriam -- Chapter 8: Impact Investing in Family Foundations: Beyond the Business Case for CSR -- Chapter 9. Norwegian pension fund divestments and the market effect -- Part 3: Investee organizations and impact measurement -- Chapter 10. Delivery Aid Differently: Women's Empowerment through Social Entrepreneurship and Impact Investing in Myanmar -- Chapter 11: Social impact assessment: measurability and data management -- Chapter 12: Social impact assessment in Italian innovative startups -- Chapter 13: Concluding remarks.

1. Enhancing Efficiency in Sustainable Markets; Mario La Torre and Helen Chiappini -- 2. Financing Sustainable Goals: Economic and Legal Implications; Raffaele Felicetti and Alessandro Rizzello -- 3. Rethinking Taxation and Impact Investments; Alessandro Mazzullo -- 4. Profitable Impact Bonds: Introducing Risk-sharing Mechanisms for a More Balanced Version of Social Impact Bonds; Giulia Proietti -- 5. Social Stock Exchanges: Defining the Research Agenda; Karen Wendt -- 6. A Macro-level Analysis of the Economic and Social Impact of Microfinance in Sub-Saharan Africa; Roberto Pasca di Magliano and Andrea Vaccaro -- 7. Environmental Impact Investments in Europe; Giuliana Birindelli, Annarita Trotta, Helen Chiappini, Alessandro Rizzello -- 8. The Increasing Importance of Green Bonds as Instruments of Impact Investing: Towards a New European Standardisation; Maria Cristina Quirici -- 9. Green Banking in Italy: Current and Future Challenges; Giuseppina Procopio, Annarita Trotta, Eugenia Strano and Antonia Patrizia Iannuzzi -- 10. Opportunities and Challenges of Impact Investing in Climate-smart Agriculture in Latin America; Angélica Rotondaro, Andrea Minardi and Leonie Dissemond -- 11. Sustainable Finance: Trends, Opportunities and Risks; Mario La Torre and Helen Chiappini.

This Palgrave Pivot aims to build a bridge between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainable finance in financial markets. It investigates classic CSR topics in the light of a modern conception of sustainability. The first part emphasizes four relevant topics in the CSR panorama of financial institutions: banks remuneration practices; human capital disclosure; the impact of environmental performance on banks, and finally, the institutional investors' attitude towards socially responsible investments (SRIs). The second part explores CSR practices within the financial markets and discusses risk-return profiles of SRI and non-SRI indexes in different time frames. It investigates whether thematic social responsible funds obtain different risk-return than traditional funds, and finally, assesses whether equity crowdfunding could foster social innovation. This book is aimed at scholars and students who are interested in social impact investing and practitioners involved in the social impact market.

AbstractUsing a multi case‐study analysis, we shed light on the strategies, practices, and tensions of fund managers acting as impact investors. Results show that while some fund managers experience tension between the social and financial aspects of specific, although relevant, components of the business model, other fund managers experience challenges throughout the business model. The governance component emerges as the most relevant issue and this may help explain why impact washing is a key topic in the impact investing discussion. Relevant implications for practitioners and policy makers are also discussed.

Purpose
This study aims to examine the relationship between female directors and bank risk. In particular, whether such a relationship varies across sound or unsound banks and with or without a critical mass of female directors is tested.


Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of 215 listed banks from 40 countries over the period 2008–2016, this study carries out panel data analyses and tests all the model specifications on four different measures of risk (common equity ratio, leverage, NPLs ratio and price volatility).


Findings
The findings show that increasing the number of female directors does not reduce bank risk when banks are unsound. When banks are sound, female directors have a significant and positive role in reducing risk, only until reaching a critical mass of women.


Practical implications
This study provides useful corporate governance indications for policymakers and practitioners. Advantages of gender diversity on boards are recognized especially in sound banks, but increasing the number of women directors beyond the critical mass may not lead to lower risk. In fact, ethical or legal pressures aimed at increasing gender diversity on boards (i.e. soft or hard gender quotas) may cause undesired effects on bank risk, especially if female directors are not chosen on merit and skills. Moreover, gender-balanced boards, namely, with a "dual critical mass," seem to assure more effective decision-making processes.


Originality/value
This study provides empirical evidence on female board members and risk minimization, differentiating between sound or unsound banks. Furthermore, this study contributes to the literature on the critical mass of women on the board of directors by testing this theory for these two categories of banks.