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Sedex Global partners with World Bank Institute on platform

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  WEDNESDAY, 14 MAY 2014  |  NEWS
Sedex Global and OpenCorporates will partner with the World Bank Institute to develop the Open Supply Chain Platform, an initiative aimed at companies' transparency and performance in responsible supply chain data.

Good Shepherd Microfinance receives more state funding

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  FRIDAY, 9 MAY 2014  |  NEWS
Good Shepherd Microfinance will receive a further AU$1.7 million in funding as part of the Victorian state budget.

bankmecu and Swan Hill Credit Union to merge

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  FRIDAY, 9 MAY 2014  |  NEWS
bankmecu and Swan Hill Credit Union (SHCU) will merge after SHCU members endorsed the move this week.

NAB, GS Microfinance: more needed on financial exclusion

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  FRIDAY, 2 MAY 2014  |  NEWS
There are still more than three million Australian adults that are fully or severely excluded from financial products, lending weight to the argument for greater investment in microfinance in Australia, according to Good Shepherd Microfinance.

J.P. Morgan, GIIN report uptick in impact investing

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  FRIDAY, 2 MAY 2014  |  NEWS
The world's largest impact investors say they expect to commit US$12.7 billion to impact investments in 2014, a 19% increase over 2013, according to a survey conducted by.P. Morgan and the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN).

SVA provides $800,000 financing to Indigenous company

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  WEDNESDAY, 23 APR 2014  |  NEWS
(Ed. note: substantially updated with comment from Martin Doyle, executive chairman, Iman Operations)

University of Sydney issues second impact investing report

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  THURSDAY, 17 APR 2014  |  NEWS
A new study from the University of Sydney Business School concludes there is no legal barrier preventing trusts and foundations from pursuing impact investments, and finds that impact investing has to move past the stage of engaging with early adopters ...

New Forests releases 2013 sustainability report

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  FRIDAY, 11 APR 2014  |  NEWS
Forestry and environmental markets fund manager New Forests has completed investing and closing in three funds in Australia and New Zealand and Asia and engaged in conservation and community engagement activities across its assets, the company reported ...

ASX reports on progress towards gender diversity targets

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  FRIDAY, 11 APR 2014  |  NEWS
Nearly all ASX-listed companies have adopted gender diversity policies or explained why not, but there is still a wide difference in performance when it comes to setting measurable objectives and disclosure of the proportion of women in organisations ...

ESG integration into quantitative investment management

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  FRIDAY, 28 MAR 2014  |  NEWS
There is a growing use of environmental and social factors as part of quantitative investment techniques in equity portfolios, with fund managers integrating ESG data to either screen out undesired stocks, or to create customised benchmarks that tilt ...