The Big Society Bank will make it a priority to be actively involved in developing and encouraging impact measurement, according to one of the advisers developing the framework for the Bank.

Nick O’Donohoe, former global head of research at JP Morgan, is working together with Sir Ronald Cohen, former chair of the social investment taskforce, to devise a proposal for government for how the Big Society Bank will operate.

O’Donohoe, who is expected to announce the proposal with Cohen in the coming weeks, told delegates at the Voice11 conference yesterday that it would be incumbent on the Big Society Bank to be a leader in developing best practice around impact measurement:

“It will be necessary to have a clear and understandable rating system for mainstream investors to understand social investment,” said O’Donohoe.

O’Donohoe suggested the Bank could invest in a social stock exchange to achieve this. The Bank, which will be a wholesaler institution, will also invest in social enterprise funds, CDFIs, existing banks in the sector and new innovations such as social impact bonds, he said.

O’Donohoe also advised that the Bank would make borrowing and investing more attractive than mainstream banks.

“It will be an institution that gets the social sector,” he said.