As we re-convene GSG’s Pension Fund and Impact Investing Working Group, we are kicking off the year with a 3-part NAB Dialogue series exploring how NABs can support the mobilisation of pension fund capital acknowledging that countries are at different stages of market development.

Pension Funds have a key role to play in growing the impact economy, in particular in emerging markets where they represent a large share of the local supply of capital. In many markets however, both nascent and more mature, pension funds are still unaware of, or cautious about their potential to contribute, due to a high level of perceived risk.

How can NABs address these perceived risks head on? What advance information gathering and groundwork can they do to best prepare themselves to engage with pension funds? How can they most effectively approach pension funds and in order to make the case that impact investing is not only desirable, but also feasible?

In this session, we will discuss what information to gather even before approaching pension funds, as well as practices that have proven effective in garnering their initial interest and cooperation. The session will feature learnings from the Collaborative for Frontier Finance (CFF), which has been working with African NABs to develop new financial instruments to facilitate the involvement of pension funds in the impact economy.

This session is open to all stakeholders – pension funds, policy makers, market builders interested in growing the involvement of pension funds in the impact economy. Participants will have the opportunity to exchange informally with their peers from other countries before and after the session.

Resources to go further: Unlocking Local Pension Fund Capital for Small Business Finance, CFF (2022)