Impact Investing Investment Strategy: Philanthropic. Sustainable.

Investment Strategy: Philanthropic. Sustainable.

We are living in a time of great positive change in the fields of philanthropy and sustainable investment. Engaged individuals and institutions today can choose from an increasingly wide range of effective strategies and solutions to help them reach their social and environmental goals.

Our Philanthropy and Sustainable Investment Framework

More and more people and institutions want to invest their assets responsibly. We support you in driving change and delivering on your personal values and social and environmental objectives. As a Credit Suisse client there are different ways to do that and to make a real difference. Investors can engage philanthropically or combine financial returns with social and environmental impact through investments. As a Credit Suisse client you gain access to our Philanthropy and Sustainable Investment Framework.

The Art of Strategic Giving

Our Approach

Today's strategic philanthropic approaches give donors a set of tools that help them tackle global challenges in more effective, measurable ways. Nowadays, private individuals, families, charities, and foundations employ sophisticated methods and techniques to set and prioritize goals and measure results.

Credit Suisse has been engaged in this constantly evolving field for a long time and offers a broad range of customized philanthropic services for driving social change. That means our clients – and society – can profit from the best that strategic philanthropy has to offer, and drive social change with measurable impact.
 

Our Solutions 

Strategic Philanthropy

We support families in drafting a family values statement, integrating philanthropy into the family governance framework and succession plan, and developing a grant-making policy and grant-making program for structures making charitable distributions

Individual or Family Charitable Structures

Our tailor-made solutions can assist with the establishment, management and monitoring of an individual or family charitable structure. These solutions may include input into the governance framework, drafting a grant-making policy and grant-making program, coordination of project due diligence and administrative support, impact review, and financial reporting. Furthermore, our subsidiary Credit Suisse Trust assists with the formation and administration of charitable trusts. 

Credit Suisse Charitable Client Foundations

We also offer clients the option to establish their own individual sub-foundation under the roof of one of our Credit Suisse client foundations Accentus, Empiris, and Symphasis in Switzerland, or SymAsia in Singapore. In this case, donors do not have to set up or manage their own foundation and benefit from Credit Suisse’s assumption of the foundations' operating costs. Our charitable umbrella foundations have more than 130 sub-foundations that work with over 200 project partners. For more information, please visit the SymAsia website.

Building a Healthy Portfolio For You and The World

Our Approach

People used to think that investing on the basis of social or environmental criteria meant sacrificing portfolio performance. No more. Today there is a growing realization that taking environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria into account in making investment decisions brings great benefits – not just for society, but for the long-term risk/return profile of the portfolio.

With Credit Suisse, investors can align their portfolios with sustainability criteria – by means of which their investments will achieve a positive impact – or they can invest in single sustainable investment products. Key investment opportunities are sustainable real estate and impact investment. With sustainable investing you can mitigate long-term risk to your portfolio and support a sustainable future both for yourself and for the generations to come.
 

Our Solutions

Strategic Advice

Based on each individual client’s values and objectives and the Credit Suisse Sustainability Standard, we screen the investment portfolio. Partnering with the client, we then define an individual investment strategy and create a customized portfolio proposal that meets the defined sustainability standards.

Sustainable Portfolio Solutions

When screening and constructing portfolios, we use a combination of sustainable investment approaches. The exclusion approach avoids investments in companies linked to certain controversial activities, such as the manufacturing of arms or tobacco. The norm-based approach reduces a portfolio’s exposure to areas that are controversial from an ESG perspective. The best-in-class approach identifies companies that perform well within a peer group by assessing their ability to successfully manage ESG issues such as CO2 emissions and labor standards.

The sustainability profile can be further improved with investments that are related specifically to sustainability aspects such as energy efficiency, water, or healthcare. For portfolio solutions, we offer customized mandates or individual advisory solutions.

Sustainable Single Investments

We also offer single investments across various asset classes, including equities, fixed income, real estate, and alternative investments, as well as index solutions and thematic investments. Our flagships include Impact Investment and Sustainable Real Estate.

Global Research

We conduct sustainability-related research across our divisions. For example, we recently published an update to our research into global megatrends, with sustainability featuring as one of three key trends alongside demographics and the transition to a multipolar world.

Doing Well by Doing Good

Our Approach

Discover the alternative investment that drives change: Impact investing is about actively placing private capital in enterprises that generate a positive social and/or environmental impact alongside financial returns and portfolio diversification. Credit Suisse has been a leader and innovator in impact investing since 2002, and currently administers some 3 billion US dollars in impact assets. Our dedicated team of impact investment specialists structures, manages and offers a suite of impact investment products across a wide range of innovative financial vehicles and sectors.

Our Solutions

The sectors that our investment products focus on include:

Microfinance

Our investment products provide access to formal financial services to low-income individuals and micro-entrepreneurs typically excluded from the traditional banking system.

Agriculture

Our investment products support small farmers in developing sustainable agriculture and fair trade products in order to guarantee a minimum price for their harvest, reward healthy production methods, and improve their working and living conditions.

Higher Education

Our investment products provide financing to underprivileged high-potential students with no funding alternative so they can attend best-in-class higher education and subsequently aspire to better employment prospects and opportunities for higher income.

Nature Conservation

Our investment products encompass environmental protection and restoration projects across the globe that generate positive cash flows and, at the same time, have positive conservation and social impacts. 

Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Financing

Our investment products provide financing for small and medium-sized enterprises and microfinance institutions.

 

Additional Services

As a Credit Suisse client you have access to educational platforms, peer-sharing opportunities, thematic experts, thought leaders as well as the Credit Suisse Corporate Citizenship network.