Richard Brandweiner, Chair of Impact Investing Australia and a longtime institutional investor, joins the show to discuss the realities of impact investing at scale. He reflects on universal ownership, system-level risks, blended finance, and what it truly takes to align capital with real-world outcomes and fiduciary expectations.

Richard shares lessons from leadership roles at Perpetual, Aware Super, LeapFrog, Pendal, and Regnan, and why hope isn’t a strategy when designing investment frameworks meant to deliver measurable impact.

A candid conversation for investors, asset owners, and practitioners who want an honest look at where sustainable finance is working, and where it isn’t.

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• Intro (00:00 )
• Parents’ WWII survival shaped Richard’s moral compass (03:54 )
• Studied economics at the University of New South Wales (08:06 )
• Trading shares through the 1987 market crash in high school (10:44 )
• Career in Perpetual Investments and creating the first sustainable fund (13:15 )
• Becoming CIO at First State Super in 2013 (17:34 )
• Affordable housing fund idea sparked impact focus (19:34 )
• Structural issues in asset owner systems (33:29 )
• Transition from CIO to Leapfrog impact role (38:35 )
• Challenges launching institutional-grade impact fund (42:04 )
• Becoming BT CEO and integrating Regnan’s early ESG legacy (43:54 )
• At Regnan, the impact case is the investment case (48:29 )
• Regnan’s measurement approach and SDG taxonomy (54:18 )
• Impact Investing Australia - mission and focus (58:37 )
• Making impact the third axis in finance (01:04:55 )
• Ethical vs ESG vs impact investing (01:09:22 )
• How Australian Ethical outperforms with values-led investing (01:12:16 )
• Governance for Aboriginal community investment and autonomy (01:14:00 )
• Structural barriers to scaling impact investing globally (01:21:38 )
• Communication and accounting gaps in environmental costs (01:32:08 )
• Rapid-fire questions (01:35:37 )
• Contact info (01:47:14 )

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Additional Resources:

• Richard Brandweiner LinkedIn
• Impact Investing Australia Website