Baroness Kramer brings ‘Social Investment’ to the 2012 Financial Services Bill

Currently there is no recognition in financial services regulation that ordinary people might want to help good causes and not simply give their money away. Baroness Kramer, formerly MP for Richmond, is on a mission to help change this. Ironically the former Liberal Democrat MP might be the best hope for David Cameron in realising his ‘Big Society’ vision.

Major Barriers for Social Impact Investment

The development of social investment in the UK is being seriously hampered by the regulatory environment. Charities can market to people in the UK and ask them to give all of their money away, but they cannot market products which have similar social goals and offer the prospect of getting some money back, or even a return. This is because these are deemed investments and fall under financial services regulation.

What is Social Impact Investment?

Social impact investing is really the modern version of philanthropy, but it is unlikley to have reached you because it is not possible to market these type of products to the wider general public cost effectively and within the law.

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