Ryan Blute, Managing Director and Head of Global Wealth Management and Product Management at PIMCO with his take on the Meaning of Inclusive Capitalism

Investment managers, such as PIMCO, play an important role in both the 'financial ecosystem' and also in the everyday, real economy.

Inclusive capitalism can be positively impacted by the investment management industry via two primary functions of the industry:

1. by providing savers with access to opportunities to invest that would not otherwise occur without the pooling of resources that we can provide; and

Investment managers must recognize that we are members of a global community. We must therefore take into account the impact that our financial decisions have on the lives of our clients, and their communities in turn. In this way, capitalism will become more inclusive.

This is not at odds with our fiduciary obligations: it just extends them. It means that in addition to our fiduciary obligations, we have non-fiduciary obligations to those whose freedoms and well-being are affected by our economic behavior.

But we also build on a broad understanding of our fiduciary obligations. At PIMCO we take into account governance, human capital, and natural resource utilization considerations when taking investment decisions. We believe that both society and investors will be well-served by incorporating these factors, just as firms and countries which adopt sound policies in these areas will ultimately be rewarded financially. They will also benefit from a more inclusive, capitalist system.