Interactive Brokers Launches ‘IMPACT’ Mobile Trading Platform for Socially Conscious Investors Globally
- 2 years ago
Interactive Brokers Group (Nasdaq: IBKR), a global brokerage firm, today introduced IMPACT to investors worldwide. IMPACT is a patent pending mobile trading application designed to help investors easily align their portfolios with their values and help shape the future they wish to see. Expanding upon our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) trading initiatives, IMPACT by Interactive Brokers features a simple and intuitive app design that streamlines the sustainable investing process for any investor. Following the launch of IMPACT to U.S. investors, the global launch comes at a time when ESG considerations have become increasingly important to investors on a global scale. The Global Impact Investor Network estimates the total size of the market at USD 715 billion managed by 1,720 organizations.
“IMPACT takes the utility and values alignment offered by our Impact Dashboard and places it in the palm of the investor’s hand,” said Will Peterffy, ESG Director at Interactive Brokers. “We’re leading a new generation of investors making values-based investments by enabling them to develop their own conscious investment plan based on their personal values providing accountability and transparency.”
IMPACT allows investors to select their personal investment criteria from 13 impact values and principles: Clean Air, Pure Water, Ocean Life, Land Health, Consumer Safety, Ethical Leadership, Gender Equality, Racial Equality, LGBTQ Inclusion, Company Transparency, Sustainable Product Lifecycle, Mindful Business Models, and Fair Labor & Thriving Communities. Investors can also exclude investments based on 10 categories: animal testing, business ethics controversies, corporate political spending and lobbying, energy-intensive, fossil fuels, greenhouse emissions, hazardous waste, high water usage, tobacco, alcohol and gambling, and weapons and gun manufacturers.
Based on these selections, the app provides impact scores on existing portfolios and holdings and identifies companies that align with investors’ selected criteria. (Interactive Brokers uses ESG data provided by third-party vendors and combines it with a client’s value preferences to generate impact scores.) This, along with the ability to review financial metrics for stocks and examine companies’ impact scores, affords investors the opportunity to improve their scores through the selection of alternative companies in a simple and efficient manner.
