Rocio Ortega and Richard Zimmerman Comment to CityWire on the Rise of Impact Investing

December 11, 2017

Environmental, social and governance impact investing is on the rise, with global assets in responsible strategies increasing 25% to $22.9 trillion between 2014 and 2016, according to CityWire. While this strategy, often called ESG, is gaining popularity among investors and managers, including a family’s values into their overall portfolio has always been part of the investment process for WE Family Offices. Rocio Ortega and Richard Zimmerman, both advisors at the firm, recently spoke with CityWire about the future of ESG and why they think it is here to stay.

First, it helps that the managers in this space are doing well, Zimmerman told the publication. “That’s spurring interest with people who many not have woken up one day and said ‘Oh, I want impact investing,’ but it has turned out to be an additive return or a more interesting, smarter approach to investing.”

For WE Family Offices, demand for this approach to investing began organically through working with client families. “We discovered it wasn’t a focus on either ESG or impact,” said Ortega when discussing family offices’ ESG offerings. “It was a broader sense of investing in companies or with managers that aligned more with an overall set of values. Two years ago, we approached the subject under the umbrella of values-based investing.”

As more and more investors become interested in ESG, it’s becoming clear that this approach is here to stay. “This isn’t a trend, this is here for the long run, and eventually all the investors will see it makes financial sense to invest in managers that care about ESG because it helps their families mitigate risk or gives them longevity,” Ortega explained. “There is a true financial return to their investment. They are not sacrificing returns.”

The full CityWire article is available here.

Disclosure

This communication contains our current opinions and commentary, and does not represent a recommendation of any particular security, strategy, investment product or manager. The viewsexpressed here are subject to change without notice. This commentary is distributed for educational purposes only and should not be considered as investment advice or an offer of any security or service for sale. Information contained herein has been obtained from sources we believe to be reliable, but we do not guarantee its completeness or accuracy. No part of this letter may be reproduced in any form, or referred to in any other publication, without WE’s written permission.