Inside Two Financial Service Firms Reshaping Fiduciary Duty

Case Studies in Regenerative Business and Systemic Change

This pair of case studies explores how two investment firms are challenging the conventions of finance to align investor responsibility with the health of people, communities, and the planet.

Across the financial sector, the definition of fiduciary duty has long been narrow: maximize returns, minimize distractions. But climate-driven market shocks, rising inequality, and social unrest have made it clear that financial performance is inseparable from systemic health. The old model—extract now, externalize costs, hope for the best—looks increasingly like a risk in itself.

Enter Adasina and Future Business Partnership (FBP), two firms profiled in my Forbes articles, which are redesigning finance to actively address systemic risks rather than simply sidestep them.

Adasina Social Capital is challenging the traditional view of fiduciary duty. Co-CEO Julianne Zimmerman argues that ignoring the social and environmental costs of investing is not only ethically bankrupt but financially reckless. Adasina endeavors to make invisible risks visible: the firm partners with grassroots organizations to build datasets on issues like subminimum wage practices, forced arbitration in sexual harassment cases, and extractive agriculture. These insights empower investors to act—through shareholder advocacy, divestment, or public campaigns—on risks that traditional analysis leaves off the spreadsheet. The result is a growing coalition of mobilized capital: their campaigns have attracted over $1.3 trillion in assets, signaling that a material shift in investor consciousness is underway.

If Adasina focuses on systemic justice through data and mobilization, Future Business Partnership tackles the incentive problem head-on by redesigning private equity itself. FBP only earns performance fees when its portfolio companies achieve measurable improvements in both environmental and financial outcomes. This is a radical departure from the industry-standard “2 and 20” model that rewards profits alone. As co-founder Vishesh Srivastava told me, “We wanted to build a private equity firm that is a real engine for purpose-driven growth, making it easier for consumers to make sustainable choices without sacrificing price or convenience.”

The philosophies of these two firms diverge in emphasis but converge in intent: they both see finance as a lever for systemic regeneration. Adasina pushes investors to recognize that failing to account for social and environmental harm is itself a breach of fiduciary care; FBP demonstrates that aligning profit with positive impact can be baked into the very architecture of the deal. Both are chipping away at the most entrenched myth in finance—that value and values must exist in tension.

What these case studies teach us is that regenerative finance is not about charity or optics; it’s about designing systems where long-term returns depend on long-term societal and planetary health. Adasina and FBP point toward a future where investors see themselves not as passive beneficiaries of extraction, but as stewards of resilience. Yet these are still exceptions in a financial ecosystem dominated by short-termism. Scaling this mindset will require not just visionary firms, but regulatory frameworks, cultural shifts, and a willingness to question the bedrock assumptions of capital itself.

• Aligning Performance Fees And Impact In Private Equity

• Redefining Investor Responsibility In An Age Of Systemic Risk

Join the Conversation

• Have you ever looked at your investment or retirement accounts and wondered what your money is supporting?

• What does “fiduciary duty” mean to you, and do you think it should include social and environmental responsibility?

• If you could ask your bank or pension fund one question about how your money is used, what would it be?

---

The regenerative business practices and sustainability innovations highlighted in this week's Regenerative Insights directly tackle the critical issues of corporate responsibility explored in my recent book explored in my recent book, The Profiteers: How Business Privatizes Profit and Socializes Cost.