Think poverty, investors told

Investors have been advised by Oxfam to think more about poverty and development when making investment decisions.

In a new paper, Better returns in a better world, the NGO says that, despite an ‘increasing consensus’ among investors on the importance of social, environmental and governance issues, consideration of poverty and development matters ‘has lagged behind’. Any efforts in that direction have tended to be in response to NGO campaigns, indicating that a structured approach is lacking.

Oxfam says the investor role in tackling social development issues is becoming increasingly important ‘as the centre of gravity of the investment industry is moving slowly but inexorably towards emerging markets’.

The paper, the result of a two-year project in which Oxfam interviewed more than 80 investors in Europe and the US about their contribution to poverty reduction, recommends that all institutional investors now make poverty and development part of their responsible investment strategy.