British MEP and chair of the European Parliament's Econ committee Sharon Bowles wants London to be the home of a European stock exchange for companies that aim to fix social problems.

Bowles has met Nobel Peace Prize Winner Mohammad Yunus in Strasbourg to discuss social business, or enterprises that make a social impact but no loss or dividend.

Yunus believes the current capitalist stock markets do not cater for "the selfless dimensions of the people."

He wants a market to trade shares of social businesses. "An investor will come to this stock-exchange in order to find a social business, which has a mission to his or her liking, just as someone who wants to make money goes to the existing stock-market," says Yunus.

Yunus says the social stock market would need social ratings agencies, terminologies and reporting formats similar to capitalist markets.

Bowles says Europe is an obvious place for a social stock exchange and London could be the social stock centre. But she admits: "That could only happen if UK involvement in the project took-off."

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said after meeting Yunus on Wednesday that strengthening social business "is a concrete way to help the poorest of the poor."

Bowles says she hopes to attend an international conference on social business in Austria in November.