What kind of owner will the US government be having ploughed $200 billion into private financial institutions?

Against the background of growing interest in responsible investment, the launch of the UN Principles for Responsible Investment, and an increasingly activist institutional shareholder base, we now have a giant walking onto the stage: the US government.

The San Francisco Chronicle article linked here credits the government with having overcome Citigroup's resistance to breaking up its business and asks whether Bank of America may be next in their sights.

This could get even more interesting though. Private financial institutions have been coming under pressure to address their indirect social and environmental impacts, and to varying degrees have heeded that pressure by the publication of appropriate lending policies.

With a progressive government in Washington being forced to take large stakes in major financial institutions, surely there is an opportunity to bring greater balance (read responsibility) to the lending and underwriting decisions of their portfolio companies?

Let's hope that opportunity does not get missed.

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