30 Years of Impact Bonds: Insights From Benjamin Bailey of Praxis Funds

This year marks the 30^th anniversary of the Praxis Impact Bond Fund, which gives faith-based and other investors access to a broadly diversified core bond portfolio with a focus on green, social and other types of impact bonds. Over the years, the fund’s appeal has broadened from faith-based investors to include sustainability and social-impact focused investors. Its assets have grown from $11 million in 1994 at the fund’s inception to nearly $1 billion today. 

GreenMoney Journal founder Cliff Feigenbaum recently spoke with Benjamin Bailey, CFA, Vice President of Investments and Senior Fixed Income Investment Manager for Praxis Mutual Funds, on a variety of topics. Here’s the interview – 

Cliff: How Does Praxis Define “Positive Impact Bonds”? 

Benjamin: Positive impact bonds are bonds that make a specific positive impact to the climate and/or communities. A specific part of this market is in bonds called green bonds, social bonds and sustainability bonds. These have generally accepted guidelines from the International Capital Market Association on what projects are acceptable in each of these categories and establish general expectations for future reporting and signoffs from management and auditors. As investors, we want the bonds to have a level of rigor and depth to them in terms of impact, but we also don’t want to discourage potential issuers with too many firm regulations and rules.

The interview continues here, with questions on - How Has the Positive Impact Bond Market Changed? How Do You Go About Ensuring Diversification? How Has Investor Interest/Investor Makeup Changed Over the Years? And more, all at- https://greenmoney.com/30-years-of-impact-bonds-qa-with-benjamin-bailey-of-praxis

=====