Dealflow | September 3, 2020

Triodos Bank develops impact bond fund for U.K. retail investors

Jessica Pothering
ImpactAlpha Editor

Jessica Pothering

ImpactAlpha, September 3 – Nearly half of retail investors in the U.K. want impact investment options. Triodos Bank U.K. is responding with an impact bond fund that starts at £20 per share.

The Triodos Sterling Bond Impact Fund, launching in early November, will invest in corporate, social and green bonds, and U.K. “gilts,” or sovereign bonds. Individuals can invest directly or via tax-exempt individual savings accounts, or ISAs.

Concerns about climate change are driving U.K. investor interest in impact investing, according to a Triodos survey last year.

“Investors are waking up to the fact that there really is no such thing as a neutral investment,” Triodos Bank UK’s Bevis Watts said in a statement.

Still, more than 70% of everyday investors lack adequate information about the climate impact of their existing investments—specifically, how companies in their investment portfolios contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. 

The new Triodos Sterling Bond Impact Fund is intended to be a “lower risk” complement to the bank’s Global Equities Impact Fund and its Pioneer Impact Fund, which invests in small and mid-cap stocks. The fund is the Dutch bank’s first British-pound denominated fund.