This Week in ESG and Impact Investing

SRI News   Research and Markets: Sustainable Investing for Institutional Investors . Risk ... The Herald | HeraldOnline.com Sustainable Investing for Institutional Investors: Risk, Regulation and Strategies explores the key issues related to " Socially Responsible Investment " (SRI) for institutional investors and trustees, including investment strategies, risk and returns ... See all stories on this topic »

The above is from the SEC's meeting on Rule 506 of Regulation D. This is an important provision that will allow small firms to raise up to $50 million under the JOBS Act. The result of the meeting is that a draft rule will be posted to the SEC website concerning the mechanics of this provision later today. 

News   Enbridge alienating socially responsible investors Globe and Mail The U.S. declaration that Enbridge Inc. ran a river spill cleanup like "Keystone Kops" has cost it a small investor , and a measure of credibility, after Vancity Investment Management said the pipeline company no longer meets its criteria for socially ... See all stories on this topic » Will Social Impact Investing Finally Pay Dividends? Pro Bono Australia There is now a shift from ethical and socially responsible investing – based on screening out investments associated with social and environmental damage – to social impact investing where commercial returns are blended with the creation of social and ... See all stories on this topic » Pro Bono Australia

SRI News   Hedge fund firms accepting screens to get faith-based business Pensions & Investments Hedge fund managers hungry for institutional assets are increasingly willing to incorporate exclusionary screens into their investment approaches to keep portfolios in line with the socially responsible investment values of church-affiliated investors. See all stories on this topic » Pensions & Investments

Mary Schapiro, Chair, SEC and Darryl Issa (R-CA) Chairman, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, at JOBS Act Hearing, June 26, 2012. Photo by William Michael Cunningham As C-SPAN noted, "The JOBS Act ( Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act), designed to help small companies raise investment capital, was signed into law by President Obama on April 5, 2012.  On June 26th, the TARP Subcommittee of  the House Oversight held a hearing on the Security and Exchange Commission's (SEC) efforts to implement the Act. The SEC had 270 days from the signing of the Act to set forth rules. Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) chaired the hearing. The JOBS Act relaxes some of the regulations put in place by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and establishes the creation of Internet funding portals to facilitate 'crowd funding,' the collective pooling of money to support business projects. Critics worry that the JOBS Act's relaxed regulations will encourage fraud."  We at...

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testified before the House Financial Services Committee this morning. Most of the questioning concerned the growing LIBOR scandal.  Representative Mel Watt noted the declining number of African American car dealers and asked if there was anything Treasury could do, given its large holding of GM stock, to reverse this situation. Rather than giving a solution, the Secretary promised to get back to him.  We suggested a solution as far back as 2008: there is nothing to stop Treasury from filing a shareholder resolution with GM on the matter.  On LIBOR, Representative Scott Garrett (R-NJ) noted that " Geithner had four years, and meeting after meeting, to bring the LIBOR issue to Congress' attention and it just wasn't done. " Mr. Geithner appeared unflapped . He has, after all, done this before. He noted, in prepared remarks, that “The American financial system has regained its footing since the crisis of a few y...

Chairman of the Fed Benjamin Bernanke testified before the House Financial Services Committee today. In his prepared remarks he hewed closely to his July 17th testimony before the Senate Banking Committee. A surprising number of questions focused on the LIBOR scandal. One question in particular seemed to go to the heart of the matter. A Committee member read a transcript of a conversation between a Barclay's trader and a staff member at the Federal Reserve Bank of NY. The transcript seemed to show the trader acknowledging his complicity in the commission of fraud. The Congressman then read the definition of fraud to the Chairman. This matched what the transcript revealed. The Committee member then asked the Chairman if he thought this combination was enough to justify a charge of fraud against Barclays. The Chairman was, predictably, reluctant to agree. Fiscal cliffs, twists and sequesters are irrelevant in the face of this type of  clearly defined uneth...