New Calif. initiative supports diverse insurance investments
'Invest in Our Diverse Communities' will help guide insurance companies towards socially responsible investments across California.
Greater diversity, improving inequality and climate change are just a few issues that are now front and center in the U.S., especially in the insurance industry.
To target these issues and more, California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara recently announced the launch of “Invest in Our Diverse Communities,” an initiative to identify investment managers owned by women, veterans and members of the LGBTQ+, Latinx, Asian Pacific Islander, Black, and Native American communities. These managers will then help guide investments made by insurance companies into capital-ready, socially responsible affordable housing and environmental projects across the Golden State.
These investments will help “help improve our way of life and provide a stable home for those who need it,” Lara said in a statement.
The Invest in Our Diverse Communities project is part of the Department of Insurance’s California Organized Investment Network (COIN), a nationally-recognized program aimed at increasing insurance-industry capital in underserved, low-to-moderate, and rural communities throughout California.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the inequality in wealth that continues to persist in communities across our state, which I believe the insurance industry can help to tackle through socially responsible investments,” said Lara.
According to the announcement’s press release, the initiative will add COIN-qualified investment opportunities owned and managed by diverse firms to the Impact Investment Marketplace. COIN-qualified investment opportunities address areas in need of immediate attention and assist small businesses in underserved communities.
Within the past year, the COIN program has helped drive insurance investments in renewable power assets, wind infrastructure, and the development of housing to combat homelessness, to name a few.
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