Social Stock Exchanges: Catalyst for Impact Investing?

This book examines funding platforms for impact investing known as social stock exchanges (SSE) and ways to approach impact investing at regulated traditional exchanges. The book analyses the antecedents and prerequisites for the successful implementation of SSEs. It presents the creation of SSEs as a necessary step towards a more democratic and popular impact investing market, and a way to align the asset search process for investors with capital access for entrepreneurs. It also analyses the installation of impact investing at traditional stock exchanges drawing from Green Bonds and Social Bonds.

The book showcases successful financial structuring, integrating impact into existing financial products. It discusses standalone impact solutions, the status quo of impact investing, social entrepreneurship and the pros and cons of platforms versus the use of traditional stock exchanges for impact investing. It highlights aspects of adjusted portfolio and product structuring, innovation in the context of listing criteria and makes proposals for impact stock listings at platforms and traditional stock exchanges.

Karen Wendt holds an MBA of the Faculty of Social and Environmental Studies of LiverpoolUniversity. She is the handling editor of th Springer sustainable Finance book series and haspublished in the filed of responsible investment banking, positive impact investing, and sustainablefinancial innovation. She has more than 20 years of experience in investment banking with UniCreditand has been introducing the first effective sustainability standard in investment and banking: theEquator Principles in two top tier financial institutions. She has co-created the Equator Principles andhas been sitting on the board of the Equator Principles Financial Institutions Association (EPFIAssociation. She is a internationally recognized expert for, sustainable finance and positive impactinvesting an inspiring lecturer at internationally recognized universities, prominent Key Note Speakerand serial entrepreneur. She has become the leading authority on integral investing, new forms ofinvestment and finance understanding impact investors preferences and characteristics advocating toreinvent investment and finance. With her new monograph on social stock exchanges she movesbeyond the current narratives and provides target knowledge answering research question whymatching assets that create positive impact with investors is necessary and how it can be done in amanner that is efficient, effective, transparent and scalable. In other words, Karen with her research is exploring ways to redirect investment and finance, to impact oriented investments compatible with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement turning around the investmentphilosophy.