Beats | April 13, 2017

UBS calls for “civic capital” to finance modern infrastructure

ImpactAlpha
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ImpactAlpha

Transport, energy distribution, clean water and broadband access: infrastructure has broad (and bipartisan) appeal.

The Swiss bank UBS wants to use that appeal to establish the concept of “civic capital.”

With financing from a variety of public and private sources, the bank writes in a new report, the government can bring in new, and sometimes surprising, investors “willing to accept proportional risk in exchange for compelling returns.”

UBS suggests tapping the “burgeoning demand for sustainable investments, environmental finance, and impact investing.”

To leverage private capital and multiply public dollars, the government can deploy guarantees, tax preferences, or spending matches.

The Trump team may be listening: White House officials were reading the UBS report ahead of this week’s infrastructure summit.

This post originally appeared in ImpactAlpha’s daily newsletter. Get The Brief.

Photo credit: Breakingenergy.com