Global banking alliance builds mutual fund

Shereel Patel
The Sustainability Finance Real Economies Investment Fund - set up by the Global Alliance for Banking on Values - said it had commitments to invest US$40 million.

bankmecu is the only Australian member of the alliance.

The SFRE fund is intended as "an innovative and unique financial product [that] addresses long-term capital needs for growing values-based banks," the annual report of GABV declares.

The alliance described the SFRE fund as "the first global open-ended investment fund focusing on providing long-term capital to values based banking institutions."

The initial closing of SFRE took place on 12 February 2015 with total capital promised of more than US$40 million. SFRE has a long-term ambition of raising up to US$1 billion within ten years.

SFRE will invest its funds in values-based banks throughout the world. The investment process for SFRE is managed by MicroVest Capital Management.

Founded in 2009, the GABV is a network of 25 banks and banking cooperatives with a shared aim to use finance to deliver sustainable economic, social and environmental development.