Global Microfinance Fund
Investment fund
Social investment company with assets under management of USD 1 billion
With assets under management of USD 1 billion, responsAbility is one of the world's leading social investment companies. Its areas of focus include microfinance, SME financing, fair trade, and independent media. responsAbility's investment solutions give people in developing and emerging economies access to markets, information, and other services crucial to their development; they enable private and institutional investors to earn a financial return while at the same time making a positive social impact.
Founded in 2003, responsAbility operates as an independent asset manager. Its shareholders are renowned Swiss financial institutions, a social venture capital company, and responsAbility's own employees. The assets managed by responsAbility are currently invested in 372 companies and 70 countries.
Summary
The responsAbility Global Microfinance Fund has been active since 2003 and invests in the microfinance sector worldwide. Broadly diversified, it invests either directly in MFIs or in- directly through institutions and investment products which, in turn, invest in MFIs. Most of the fund portfolio comprises variable or fixed-interest debt securities with short to medium terms to maturity. To a limited extent, the responsAbility Global Microfinance Fund can also make fair trade and private equity investments. Long-term goals are positive value growth and low fluctuations in returns. Swiss franc and euro invest- ments are hedged against the US dollar.
The responsAbility Global Microfinance Fund suits investors who seek a financial return while wanting to enhance the economic prospects of low-income households. The fund offers broad possibilities for diversification and addresses the needs of private and institutional investors with medium- to longterm horizons. Correlation between the responsAbility Global Microfinance Fund and other asset classes is slight, as borrowers from MFIs move in circles remote from developments on the global market.
