Impact investing asset manager Symbiotics said the fund’s public-private partnership model seeks to attract private sector capital towards sustainable development goals.

Switzerland-based Symbiotics has closed its newly-launched $50 million SME Finance - Loans for Growth Fund for UBS’s impact investor base.

The fund’s four-year closed-end structure aims to provide loans to small and medium-sized finance institutions in emerging and frontier markets, thereby promoting entrepreneurship, job creation and inclusive economic growth while targeting an attractive financial return for investors. It also includes a 10 per cent ($5 million) first loss risk protection mechanism co-funded equally by UBS and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs.

Symbiotics will produce annual independent impact measurement reporting, documenting measurable social return, alongside anticipated financial return to investors.

While small and medium-sized enterprises are a key economic driver in developed markets such as Switzerland, where they represent over two-thirds of jobs and more than half of gross domestic product, there are far fewer SMEs in frontier and emerging markets due to a lack of access to finance, according to Symbiotics. The fund, it said, addresses this gap by financing local banks and finance companies in the SME space.

“UBS is an influential promoter of impact investing on the forefront of wealth managers. We strongly believe in the ability for investment capital to generate positive social and environmental impact alongside financial return,” said Mike Stewart, head of investment products and services at UBS.

“Our clients increasingly expect us to offer investment opportunities that achieve measurable social impact and the oversubscribed Loans for Growth fund is yet another proof of our commitment in the impact investing space.”