Activist investing was never really an activity for ‘the people’ historically. Perhaps because ‘the people’ hadn’t yet considered how being a shareholder could be used as a form of activism.

Now, we find ourselves amid a retail investor boom, and it shows no signs of slowing down. They even have a name tag for this pandemic-born phenomenon: ‘Gen-I’, short for ‘Generation Investor’, of course.

Meanwhile, activism has been pulled into sharp focus thanks to the intensity of the last few years, and now it’s starting to come for the corporate world in a big way. The wind has changed directions, and the financial sector can feel it. In 2020, the Google End of Year Report revealed that more people searched “how to be anti-racist” than “how to be a millionaire.” The same report shows that people also searched the phrase “how to help” more than ever before. And anyone who has been paying close attention has likely seen this mood reflected in the financial sector.

Why Finance Firms Should Pay Attention to Activist Investing