Responsability Investments AG is a private Swiss enterprise, founded in 2003 and headquartered in Zurich. Its core business are investments in

microfinance Microfinance is a category of financial services targeting individuals and small businesses who lack access to conventional banking and related services. Microfinance includes microcredit, the provision of small loans to poor clients; savings ...

companies which provide

credit Credit (from Latin verb ''credit'', meaning "one believes") is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt), ...

and other

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

services to very small, small and medium-sized enterprises who previously had limited access to formal financial services in frontier or developing countries.

Socially responsible business A socially responsible business (SRB) is a generally for-profit venture that seeks to leverage business for a more just and sustainable world. The objective of the SRBs involves more than just maximizing profits for the shareholders; it is also abo ...

that seeks to be both

transparent Transparency, transparence or transparent most often refer to: * Transparency (optics), the physical property of allowing the transmission of light through a material They may also refer to: Literal uses * Transparency (photography), a still, ...

and profitable on a

sustainable Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...

basis is financed.

Impact investing Impact investing refers to investing, investments "made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate a measurable, beneficial social or environmental impact alongside a financial return". At its core, impact investing is ...

is a general term used for such endeavors. In addition, investments are made in specific agriculture and energy companies in frontier or developing countries. responsAbility Investments is registered with the

Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) is the Swiss government body responsible for financial regulation. This includes the supervision of banks, insurance companies, stock exchanges and securities dealers, as well as other ...

(FINMA). Besides operations in Switzerland, responsAbility has its own personnel in

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

(Peru),

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

(India),

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

(Kenya),

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

(China),

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

(Thailand) as well as in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

(France) and

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

(Norway). On May 3, 2022, M&G plc completed the acquisition of responsAbility Investments AG.

Founders, shareholders

A founding partner was

Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG is a global investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. Headquartered in Zürich, it maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world and is one of the nine global " ...

, the second largest Swiss bank. Shareholders of responsAbility with a total participation of 66% were financial institutions such as: *

Baumann & Cie, Banquiers Baumann & Cie, Banquiers, headquartered in Basel, is a Swiss private bank specializing in wealth management and investment advisory. Organization Baumann & Cie, Banquiers is organized as a limited partnership, with three managing partners hav ...

, Basel * Christian Super, Australia *

Raiffeisen (Switzerland) Raiffeisen Switzerland is a cooperative of cooperatives – the union of all independent Swiss Raiffeisen banks. It bears responsibility for the business policy and strategy within the Raiffeisen Group. The 246 independent Raiffeisen banks of Sw ...

, St. Gallen *

Swiss Re Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd,
Swiss Re. Retrieved on 18 January 2011. "Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd ("Swiss Re") ...

Foundation, Zurich *

Vontobel Vontobel Holding AG is a Swiss private banking and investment management group headquartered in Zurich. Established in 1924, as of August 2021, Vontobel has over 2,000 employees across 26 worldwide locations. Vontobel group's core businesses ar ...

Beteiligungen AG, Zurich Employees of responsAbility held 14% of the shares. Other investors kept the remaining 20%.''Shareholders.''
responsability.com- Retrieved June 28, 2019 On 27 January, 2022, it announced that the British firm M&G plc had acquired a majority stake in responsAbility Investment AG. The acquisition was completed on May, 3, 2022.

Investment products

Different forms of investments have been made. Depending on the product, equity participations and/or loans have been granted to 540 enterprises in 90 countries. Overall investments amounted to 3 billion

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

at the end of 2018. Some products are closed funds or

limited partnership A limited partnership (LP) is a form of partnership similar to a general partnership except that while a general partnership must have at least two general partners (GPs), a limited partnership must have at least one GP and at least one limited ...

s. The ''responsAbility Global Microfinance Fund'' is an open fund and has assets of over a billion USD, but is not available in English-speaking countries. A new investment fund targets low-cost solutions to provide electricity in rural areas, which don't have connection to electricity grids. For this purpose, funds have been raised from, among others, the

International Finance Corporation The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is an international financial institution that offers investment, advisory, and asset-management services to encourage private-sector development in less developed countries. The IFC is a member of t ...

as a member of the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

and the

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard ou ...

Foundation during spring 2015. The Shell Foundation expects that the living conditions of about 20 million people in developing countries will improve as a result of these investments during the next three years.

Specific investments

Reports and information about specific activities of reponsAbility funds are available in international publications such as ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', ''

Neue Zürcher Zeitung The ''Neue Zürcher Zeitung'' (''NZZ''; "New Journal of Zürich") is a Swiss, German-language daily newspaper, published by NZZ Mediengruppe in Zürich. The paper was founded in 1780. It was described as having a reputation as a high-quality ne ...

'' and the Microcapital Organization.Examples of investments by responsAblity
/ref>

External links

Mikrofinance.de (in German)

References

Financial services companies of Switzerland Microfinance organizations 2022 mergers and acquisitions