MAPFRE is launching ‘MAPFRE Inclusión Responsable’ – an investment fund which invests in European companies which actively seek to include disabled people within their workforces.
By combining profitability with social impact, the fund (thought to be the first of its kind) is being launched in France and marketed throughout the rest of Europe by the end of this year.
MAPFRE Inclusión Responsable will combine the search for financial profitability with social impact by investing primarily in companies who are leaders in employing people with disabilities. The methodology to do so, which is based on a questionnaire of 40 questions, has been developed by MAPFRE AM and its French ESG focused associate, fund manager La Financiere Responsable (LFR). This on-going research has so far identified around 150 companies – some 25 per cent of the total – as being either leaders in this field or committed to becoming so.
MAPFRE Inclusión Responsable aims to demonstrate empirically that the inclusion of people with disabilities in companies can be profitable. Back testing by MAPFRE’s asset management team shows that over the past five years the portfolio of companies selected for inclusion would be four times more profitable than the market as a whole, so providing a compelling investment thesis.
MAPFRE President Antonio Huertas, says: “Our research has identified that companies committed to disability, have proved to be profitable, financially stable and therefore more sustainable than their competitors. We have therefore concluded that investing in such companies is not only positive for investors but is positive for society as a whole.”
