Advice industry needs “agents of change” to shift the impact needle

Investment in private assets, such as infrastructure, renewable energy and housing is set to become easier for managers of KiwiSaver funds, with Commerce Minister Andrew Bayly last week announcing reforms to loosen the reins on the use of investors’ funds.

Soul Capital is a multi-asset fund which specialises in investing for impact. Its chief executive Jamie Newth says New Zealand won’t find the necessary capital to solve problems with an ESG lens only, institutional investors will need to invest in real assets like those identified by the government.

“There's two sides to that: there is them being open to finding those investment opportunities and not putting up excuses, and to the likes of us creating the products for them to invest in, goes kind of hand in hand.”

But for impact investing to really gather pace capital needs to flow in the direction of early stage businesses as well. Advisors have a key role to play, says Newth, by refusing to be limited by what their clients ask of them.