Financial inclusion has emerged as a powerful tool for enhancing the resilience of households and fostering economic growth in emerging and frontier markets. Symbiotics, the leading market access platform for investing, is at the forefront of this movement, driven by a mission to expand access to finance for low- and middle-income households in emerging and frontier economies. This commitment to sustainable development is demonstrated in the company’s 2022 Impact Report.

The 2022 Impact Report closely follows the three pillars of Symbiotics’ Impact Promise, demonstrating impact through several measurable KPIs.

Emerging Economies

Symbiotics defines its investment universe as emerging and frontier economies, targeting low- and middle-income markets and beneficiaries. Symbiotics seeks to deploy capital to where it normally doesn’t flow, reaching out through investments.

Responsible Investments

Symbiotics integrates in its investment process environmental, social and governance ‘ESG’ risks that might affect the value of its investments. Symbiotics also screens for environmental and social adverse impact that its activities may have on its target markets.

Sustainable Objectives

Symbiotics assigns sustainable objectives to each of its investments, and report on key impact indicators tracking them, aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals “SDGs” framework. Symbiotics aims to measure the positive development and contributions of its activities.

Targeting Emerging Economies

Symbiotics managed assets worth USD 2.9 billion and invested in more than 320 financial institutions across 79 countries. The top 3 countries of investments are India, Ecuador and Costa Rica, together representing 20.3% of the Symbiotics’ exposure. The investment distribution is as follows:

  • Latin America & the Caribbean: 30.8%
  • South & East Asia: 28.4%
  • Eastern Europe, Central Asia & MENA: 23.8%
  • Sub-Saharan Africa: 13.5%
The highest standards of Responsible Investment

Symbiotics firmly embraces the double materiality principle outlined in the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation “SFDR”. The company addresses sustainability risks that could impact its financial performance, as well as considers how its investment choices affect broader sustainability factors that ultimately impact the world. As an impact investor focused on benefiting low- and middle-income households and MSMEs, Symbiotics and all of its funds fully align with the rigorous requirements of Article 9.

Reaching Sustainable Objectives by Empowering Borrowers

In 2022, Symbiotics successfully served a total of 2.8 million individuals, 70% of them women and almost half from rural communities, providing access to various financial products and services. These diverse financial offerings collectively played a role in improving the quality of life of the end borrowers. The median average loan provided was USD 2,700, supporting more than 10 million jobs across various sectors.

 

Guest contribution by Symbiotics

Read the full report here