Keyvan Rastegar joined a panel of leading experts, Geoff Burnand, Co-Founder and CEO of Investing for Good (London), and Jane Newman, Director of Social Finance UK (London) on social impact bonds, a key innovation in public service financing, to address the legal implications of social bonds. With a particular focus on covenants, Keyvan argued that social bonds need not restrict themselves to financials but can objectively measure their social goal or impact.

To review the status of the field and identify emerging opportunities, Robert Koller (Simmons & Simmons) of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association (CAIA) Germany chapter had organized the CAIA Germany Social Business Symposium 2013, bringing together partners and experts from the field. With more than 6,500 members in more than 80 countries, CAIA is an international leader in alternative investment education.

In a lively discussion, it became clear that creating reliable and affordable impact ratings will be key for the industry development as well as finding culturally appropriate ways to embed the core idea behind impact investing – making an adjusted financial return on a social cause.