Social financiers merge at 'most critical time in a generation'

Two of the biggest social financiers in the country, Charity Bank and Investing for Good, are set to merge in an attempt to meet the needs of the sector as government-funded financers such as Futurebuilders begin to run out of money.

via Chrisanthi Giotis socialenterpriselive.com

Two of the big names in the world of social finance, Charity Bank and Investing for Good, will as of today work together in a strategic alliance.

The partnership will create a full service social bank combining Charity Bank's retail deposit and lending services with Investing for Good's ability to provide investment advice and arrangements to wealth managers.

Charity Bank CEO Malcolm Hayday said: 'The strategic fit with Investing for Good is very strong and our combined strengths will hasten the development of a broad range of social investment services at the most critical juncture for financial services in a generation.'

Geoff Burnand, co-founder of Investing for Good, and now also Chief Investment Officer of Charity Bank, said: 'If this sector is going to progress it needs to demonstrate collaboration and scale.'

'There's too much chat about wouldn't it be nice if this or that collaboration happened, we're getting down and actually doing the work and getting money flowing.'

Burnand added that the alliance came at a crucial time for the sector with big government-funded social financiers like Futurebuilders exiting the scene as their money ran out.

At the same time he said there was more appetite for social investment from wealth managers but they needed to see collaboration and this deal would raise the profile of social investment in the city.

He added: 'Charity Bank's ability to collaborate with other lenders and come up with new types of capital raising products will increase.'

As part of the alliance Investing for Good's other co-founder Caroline Mason, who is also a board member of the Social Enterprise Coalition and a Social Enterprise Magazine columnist, will become Charity Bank's Chief Operating Officer.

Both Charity Bank and Investing for Good will keep their individual brand names.

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