The non-profit organization B Lab granted B Corp Certification to Helsinki Capital Partners for the second time. Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance. In order to be recognized as a B Corp, a company must pass the B Impact Assessment (BIA), which measures the impact a company has on its employers, customers, community and environment.
The minimum amount of BIA-points for a certified company is 80. When HCP was certified for the first time in 2017, we were awarded with 97.8 points. In the most recent assessment, our score was 99.9, so we are definitely on track.
B Corp Certification is a sign of success, but there is always room for improvement
Our mission is to be Asset management to be proud of.™ Therefore, the B Impact Assessment is a great way to evaluate if we are working according to our values.
Responsibility governs all our actions, whether it be externally towards our stakeholder groups or internally towards our employees. Responsibility towards our clients manifests in, for instance, full cost transparency. Our funds aim to increase our customers’ wealth by being genuinely active. What additionally serves our customers’ interest is that we care about our employees and give them responsibilities as well as power and freedom. Nowadays all of our permanent employees are HCP shareholders.
Renewing our B Corp Certification shows that we have truly lived up to our mission. However, if we wish to remain worthy of a certificate, we need to constantly evaluate our performance.
“B Corp Impact Assessment shows how we have performed in certain categories. However, there will always be a certain dispersion between our strengths and weaknesses, regardless of the total amount of points that we gain in the evaluation,” says Tommi Kemppainen, CEO of HCP.
“For instance, we had a great success in the impact area of Workers, the total amount of points being 26,5. We excelled in the categories of Health, Wellness & Safety, Career Development as well as Engagement & Satisfaction. On the other hand, the least amount of points was given on Financial Security. It is only justifiable to be brought into daylight that our salaries are 30 percent below industry average.”
“For instance, we had a great success in the impact area of Workers”
Tommi Kemppainen, CEO of HCP
With its own example HCP wishes to encourage the financial sector to conduct business in a responsible way. We have also proved that responsibility and successful asset management can go hand in hand. We share openly each of our fund’s performance, fee structure and compliance and risk management on our website. Being committed to responsibility, this is self-evident for us.
The B Corp movement and stakeholder capitalism – The purpose of business is not limited to maximizing profits
The B Corp movement has its roots in stakeholder capitalism, which strongly questions the ideology behind the traditional shareholder capitalism. Stakeholder capitalism aims to provide a new – and sustainable – model of business, which is not limited to maximizing profits.
The stakeholders in stakeholder capitalism are defined as any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of an organization’s purpose. Such stakeholders are, for instance, employees, customers, communities and the environment. The B Impact Assessment evaluates how a company impacts these groups.
During the last couple of years, stakeholder capitalism has become more mainstream for many reasons. The number one reason is global warming, which cannot be tackled by merely focusing on maximizing profits. A more recent concern is COVID-19, which has caused global unemployment. The financial crisis of 2007–2008, on the other hand, showed us what pure focus on profits at the cost of stakeholders can cause at its worst. In 2019, the flaws of the capitalist economy were brought into daylight, when Financial Times published its new agenda Capitalism: time for a reset.
HCP has discussed corporate social responsibility from the point of view of The Nordic KPI. We present this theme in more detail in our sustainability report.
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Ville Punsar is taking care of HCP’s communications in autumn 2020. Ville, who follows the world of investing particularly from the point of view of communications, got excited about HCP due to its unique identity. In his opinion, HCP’s tailor-made investment services for professional athletes provide great additional value.