Wall Street

Krawcheck's Ellevest rolls out funds to invest in women

Key Points
  • Socially responsible and impact investing is becoming more popular with investors who want to make money while trying to achieve social and economic change.
  • Investments in the new funds announced Tuesday could include small business loans to women business owners or sustainable housing for workforce tenants and families.
Sally Krawcheck, CEO and co-founder of Ellevest, once held the top posts at the wealth management units of Citigroup and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Now she has refashioned herself as an outsider, out to crack the code on making investing friendlier to women.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC

Sallie Krawcheck's Ellevest is rolling out new funds that will invest in women, specifically in a way that helps get more money directly into the hands of women and organizations that support their advancement.

The digital investing firm is calling the five new funds the Ellevest Impact Portfolios. Last year, it rolled out a series of exchange-traded funds designed for women to save for retirement.

Socially responsible and impact investing is becoming more popular with investors who want to make money while trying to achieve social and economic change. Investments in the new funds announced Tuesday could include small business loans to women business owners or sustainable housing for workforce tenants and families.

"There's a greater urgency among women investors to use their growing financial clout in support of other women and to invest in the future they want — rejecting outdated views about sacrificing the potential for investment returns or forgoing their own goals in order to do so," Krawcheck said in a statement.

The funds include the Pax Ellevate Global Women's Leadership Fund, which invests in companies that have two or more women on their boards. Krawcheck has an ownership in that fund, according to the website, but is waiving her advisory fees.

Krawcheck has a high profile on Wall Street, where she ran Bank of America's and Citigroup's wealth management divisions and was CFO of Citi.