Scaling Up Impact Investing: Channels of Distribution in Wealth Management

Impact investing plays a critical role in serving underserved populations around the world through investments in important social sectors such as in education, agriculture, health, housing and climate. Given the rising interest, Bank of America Merrill Lynch is looking to expand its product offerings to its Global Wealth Management (GWM) clients, allowing its clients to create positive social change while getting financial returns on their investments.

The Capstone team researched investment vehicles, such as the Donor Advised Funds (DAFs), Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), Community Foundations and social venture funds (loans and VC), which are currently not widely offered as a mode of investment to GWM clients. The purpose of this approach is to select an investment vehicle that is appropriate for BAML to incorporate in their product suite. The team looked at various departments within BAML that could provide complementary services to the new product while ensuring the product launch duration is short and cost-effective. The team narrowed down the choices to pick CDFIs as the most viable product after careful product comparison.