
Social innovation
Fostering social innovation in the way we think, work and operate is a priority for Barclays
The Barclays Social Innovation Facility (SIF) is an internal mechanism which incubates colleague ideas for financial products and services that seek to specifically address environmental or social challenges.The SIF was launched in 2012 and continues to be one of Barclays’ most innovative mechanisms to advance socially and environmentally impactful products and services in a commercial way.
As sustainable finance markets mature and our businesses incorporate ESG considerations into product development, SIF aims to become a centre of excellence on disruptive financial products and services by providing seed support to commercially valuable propositions and the colleagues and teams championing them.
The opportunities we incubate in SIF are complex in nature and often disrupt traditional business models by building unconventional partnerships, utilizing untested technology, or targeting new customer segments. SIF is there to help colleagues overcome the typical barriers to social innovation they might encounter along the way.
Global Head of Sustainability and Citizenship
Our success stories
Barclays Social Innovation Facility has invested in 50 projects, supporting their development through a range of financial and non-financial mechanisms. The SIF targets growth opportuntiies that are strategically aligned to Barclays, with products and services ranging from impact investing funds to blockchain solutions addressing transparency in the supply chain.
SIF Insights
Barclays Social Innovation Facility has been written about in Stanford Social Innovation Review, Harvard Business Review, and in research published by Tufts Fletcher School.
We have also launched reports on Sustainable Investing and Bond Returns, Rising to the water challenge, and Investor motivations for impact investing using Behavioural Finance expertise.