Interactive Brokers Launches 'IMPACT' Mobile Trading Platform for Socially Conscious Investors
IMPACT allows users to invest according to their values and create the world they want to see
GREENWICH, Conn. – November 3, 2021 – Interactive Brokers Group (Nasdaq: IBKR), a global brokerage firm, today unveiled IMPACT, a patent pending mobile trading application designed to help investors easily align their portfolios with their values and help shape the future they wish to see. Expanding upon our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) trading initiatives, IMPACT by Interactive Brokers features a simple and intuitive app design that streamlines the sustainable investing process for any investor and gives U.S. clients access to zero commissions on U.S. stock trading. The launch comes at a time when ESG considerations have become increasingly important to investors on a global scale. The Global Impact Investor Network estimates the total size of the market at USD 715 billion managed by 1,720 organizations.
"IMPACT takes the utility and values alignment offered by our Impact Dashboard and places it at the palm of the investor’s hand," said Will Peterffy, ESG Director at Interactive Brokers. "We're leading a new generation of investors making values-based investments by enabling them to develop their own conscious investment plan based on their personal values providing accountability and transparency."
IMPACT allows investors to select their personal investment criteria from 13 impact values and principles: Clean Air, Pure Water, Ocean Life, Land Health, Consumer Safety, Ethical Leadership, Gender Equality, Racial Equality, LGBTQ Inclusion, Company Transparency, Sustainable Product Lifecycle, Mindful Business Models, and Fair Labor & Thriving Communities. Investors can also exclude investments based on 10 categories: animal testing, business ethics controversies, corporate political spending and lobbying, energy-intensive, fossil fuels, greenhouse emissions, hazardous waste, high water usage, tobacco, alcohol and gambling, and weapons and gun manufacturers.
Based on these selections, the app provides impact scores on existing portfolios and holdings and identifies companies that align with investors’ selected criteria. (Interactive Brokers uses ESG data provided by third-party vendors and combines it with a client’s value preferences to generate impact scores.) This, along with the ability to review financial metrics for stocks and examine companies’ impact scores, affords investors the opportunity to improve their scores through the selection of alternative companies in a simple and efficient manner.
IMPACT also includes the "Swap" feature, a unique offering that gives users the ability to swap positions in the same dollar amount from one security to another. With one tap, investors can buy and sell securities simultaneously based on the comparative impact scores of one company versus another.
"The IMPACT ‘Swap’ function goes a step further than our competitors to allow clients to easily re-align their portfolio positions with what they care about the most, which we’re really proud of,” adds Edward Soffer, ESG Manager at Interactive Brokers. “The app is designed for modern-day investors who understand that their investments make an impact and catalyze change."
Additional tools and features available on the IMPACT app include:
- Charitable Giving: IBKR GIVE enables users to align their IMPACT values with non-profit organizations and make cash donations directly from the app. Using a comprehensive directory of U.S. charities and non-profit organizations from GuideStar by Candid, IMPACT gives users the opportunity to easily donate to a charity matching their values or search for a non-profit of their choice. This feature is only available to U.S. clients.
- Guided Investing Experience: IMPACT provides access to Socially Responsible Investment portfolios through Interactive Advisors, which was named "Best for Socially Responsible Investing" by Investopedia in 2021. IMPACT users who are interested in these ready-made portfolios will be directed to Interactive Advisors to open an account.
- Access to Cryptocurrency: Investors will have access to cryptocurrency trading, enabling clients to trade and custody Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) via Paxos Trust Company. Through Paxos, IBKR clients will be able to trade cryptocurrency alongside other asset classes available on the Interactive Brokers platform, creating a unified customer experience. While other crypto exchanges and brokers charge fees of 2.00% of trade value or more and add spreads or markups to the price, cryptocurrency trading with Paxos on Interactive Brokers’ platform has low commissions of just 0.12% - 0.18% of trade value, depending on monthly volume, with a USD 1.75 minimum per order. Plus, there are no added spreads, markups, or custody fees. This feature is only available to U.S. clients.
IMPACT PLANT A FOREST INITIATIVE
In conjunction with the launch, Interactive Brokers has partnered with One Tree Planted on the IMPACT Plant a Forest initiative. Available to the first 30,000 customers who sign up for IMPACT, the Plant a Forest program gives investors the opportunity to make an important environmental impact. For every $1,000 dollars an investor deposits in their account, IMPACT will plant 25 trees. For the equivalent of 1 tree per $40 deposited, IBKR customers who use the IMPACT app can easily help reforestation efforts and direct IMPACT to plant trees in environmentally critical regions such as California, Mexico, Côte D'Ivoire or India. One Tree Planted is a non-profit organization that plants trees worldwide to combat climate change and deforestation and partners with carefully selected reforestation organizations in North America, Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
For more information including disclosures, and to download the IMPACT app, visit IMPACT by IBKR.
About Interactive Brokers Group, Inc.
Interactive Brokers Group affiliates provide automated trade execution and custody of securities, commodities, and foreign exchange around the clock in over 135 markets in numerous countries and currencies, from a single IBKR Integrated Investment Account to clients worldwide. We service individual investors, hedge funds, proprietary trading groups, financial advisors and introducing brokers. Our four decades of focus on technology and automation has enabled us to equip our clients with a uniquely sophisticated platform to manage their investment portfolios. We strive to provide our clients with advantageous execution prices and trading, risk and portfolio management tools, research facilities and investment products, all at low or no cost, positioning them to achieve superior returns on investments. Barron’s ranked Interactive Brokers #1 with 5 out of 5 stars in its February 24, 2020, Best Online Broker Review.
Contacts for Interactive Brokers Group, Inc.
Media: Katherine Ewert, media@ibkr.com or Yani Pena, media@ibkr.com.
