Responsibility Investments

responsAbility Investments AG
legal form	Corporation
founding	2003
Seat	Zurich , Switzerland
management	Rochus Mommartz ; ( CEO ) ; Reto Schnarwiler ; ( Chairman of the Board of Directors )
Number of employees	240 (2018)
Branch	Asset management
Website	www.responsability.com

The responsAbility Investments AG , based in Zurich is a Founded in 2003, Swiss company, which in the international microfinance is active -Vermögensverwaltung and sustainable development financing.

This organization invests in specialized microcredit finance companies as well as in agricultural and energy companies in developing and emerging countries in order to support their low-income population in small to medium-sized companies. Various investment products have been created for this purpose. Depending on the product, these are equity stakes and / or loans to currently 540 companies in 90 countries. The total assets under management of 3 billion USD (December, 2018). This company is monitored by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA).

outside of its headquarters in Switzerland, responsAbility has its own staff in Lima (Peru), Mumbai (India), Nairobi (Kenya), Hong Kong (China), Bangkok (Thailand) as well as in Luxembourg (city) , Paris (France) and Oslo ( Norway) stationed.

Foundation, shareholders

The beginnings go back to work at the major bank Credit Suisse in Zurich. Credit Suisse is a founding partner of responsAbility.

The shareholders of responsAbility include the following financial institutions and other financial houses with a total of 66%:

Baumann & Cie, Banquiers , Basel
Christian Super, Australia
Raiffeisen Switzerland , St. Gallen
Swiss Re Foundation, Zurich
Vontobel Beteiligungen AG, Zurich

ResponsAbility employees own 14% of the shares.

Other investors hold the remaining 20% of the shares.

Investment products

ResponsAbility's investment products as microfinance funds are partially closed and therefore no longer accessible to new investors. The responsAbility Global Microfinance Fund is one of the funds that are still open to private investors . Distribution licenses exist for Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

A new investment fund in the energy sector , which was launched in spring 2015 by responAbility and is supported by well-known co-investors, is considered innovative and so far the first larger collective investment . IFC as a member of the World Bank , the Shell Foundation and other investors, technically supported by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), wanted to provide affordable solutions for low-income people without a connection to the power grid. The Shell Foundation expects this fund to improve the living conditions of 20 million people in developing countries over the next three years.

The responsAbility Participations AG carried out a capital increase in April 2015 so that now the share capital of the company amounts to 117.2 million Swiss francs. Investors include Swiss pension funds and the German bank KfW .

A Starbucks fund aimed at promoting sustainable coffee cultivation has invested USD 20 million in responsAbility Investments AG .

Individual projects, comments

The range of investments made in individual countries as well as assessments have been and will be published. Specific participations exist, for example, in ProCredit Holding (Germany), Hattha Kaksekar Limited ( Cambodia ) and Credo in Georgia .