Report on Progress in Inclusive Finance 2014

This report summarizes the progress that Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) signatories have made in implementing the Principles for Investors in Inclusive Finance (PIIF). It analyzes data from investors, both direct and indirect, and identifies areas of improvement and steps that fund managers and asset owners can take in order to maximize the impact of their investments. Key highlights from the report include:

• Implementation of the PIIF among indirect investors is low;
• Investors support broadening the range of services offered, and client groups covered, by investee retail institutions but few investors collect data on this;
• Client Protection Principles are universally accepted among investors but few encourage implementation by retail institutions;
• Investors are taking action to ensure fair treatment of the retail institutions they’ve invested in, but formalization and consensus around best practice is lacking;
• Social performance is key to investment decision making but more can be done to incentivize improvement;
• Investors recognize the importance of governance and environmental issues;
• Investors disclose information aligned with industry standards and encourage investee retail institutions to be transparent to clients;
• There is a collaboration between investors but less so between investors and investee retail institutions.