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A strategic advantage for the benefit of the environment, society and economy alike
Society understands the financial services sector as an enabler and contributor to a sustainable future. Banks, insurers, private equity, impact investors, pension funds, family offices and other market players are seen as key drivers in financing and realising the transformation to a sustainable economy.
The actors in the sector have understood that they need to face the challenges that arise when incorporating these requirements into their practices. It leads to institutions being forced to cope with issues and questions that are complex, require an integrated approach and generate evolving responsibilities.
Sticking with the status quo is not an option anymore. Growth needs to become inclusive, common values need to be shared and transparency must be provided to explain the impacts that the business has on environmental, social and governance-related risks and opportunities. The legislative pressure on the integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into investment strategies and processes is growing every day. Regulators around the world are heavily involved in shaping the sustainability agenda. The EU has already enacted new ambitious legislation to support EU-wide sustainable growth and a more sustainable financial system. Further proposals and measures are planned with the goal of further reinforcing the Paris Climate Agreement and the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. Similar developments are also expected in Switzerland.
Becoming an organisation that is fully equipped to find and make sustainable investments is demanding. The inclusion of ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) criteria in an investment process is new. Practical questions we often hear are:
To enhance strategy, unlock value and build trust we will have a constructive, transparent dialogue with you and your stakeholders. We help you by:
Our services are designed for all actors in the financial services market. We enable you to navigate the complexities of mapping opportunities and risks relating to sustainability by:
Ensuring compliance and considerations resulting from regulatory developments and strategic aspirations
We review and assess the regulatory requirements while utilising the opportunities of sustainable finance impacting your business.
Mainstreaming sustainable finance
We support you in integrating sustainable finance into traditional investment processes, from strategy to execution, by identifying ESG risks and formulating and implementing responsible investment strategies and policy development.
Operationalising and implementing sustainable finance
We help you operationalise comprehensive, responsible portfolio management, appropriate risk management processes and a customer-centric organisation.
Ensuring quality and building trust through transparency
We support you in ensuring adherence to internal and external reporting practices and requirements.
Unlocking new opportunities and cost-efficient digital tooling
We provide you with our data-driven tooling and products that screen your portfolio, evaluate the risk exposure and allow fully-fledged monitoring and reporting of these.
Being a partner and accompanying you through the entire sustainable finance value chain
Sharing our knowledge with you and guiding you through the ongoing developments with a view to regulatory changes, stakeholder expectations and evolving standards.
Given the green regulatory tsunami, there is an inherent risk of missing out on critical topics or taking required actions too late. The Sustainable Finance Regulatory Radar, a web-based platform, is our response to the regulatory avalanche, allowing users to keep track of the latest sustainability-related trends worldwide. We use it to provide clients with a comprehensive overview of the latest regulatory developments in various jurisdictions globally, including impact assessments and recommended actions.
Adapting to the constantly changing sustainable finance regulatory landscape and being compliant is key for financial institutions. In order to implement the various new requirements, institutions must be aware of the required changes. Therefore, we offer to conduct Regulatory Gap Analysis comparing status quo and the changes required by law as well as the specific impact of regulatory changes on organisations. By analysing the regulatory gap, we lay the foundations for all of the next steps (e.g. implementation).
The implementation of the many new regulatory requirements for Sustainable Finance is a highly challenging task for financial institutions, requiring sustainable finance regulation expertise, in-depth understanding of the business requirements and careful planning with consideration of all relevant aspects. We accompany our clients’ strategic regulatory transformation, providing an integrated approach that aligns the regulatory business requirements with the institution’s specific and strategic priorities complemented by excellent regulatory and market expertise in the field.
Sustainability risk management is one of the central pillars of the new regulatory and market developments in Sustainable Finance and is one of the most challenging topics for financial institutions in relation to sustainability. We support our clients in designing an ESG Risk Management and Control Framework for the effective management of ESG risks throughout their organisation.
With increasing regulatory and market pressure on sustainable finance, financial institutions need a strong and efficient corporate governance structure in relation to sustainability. We help you define the sustainability structure that best suits your needs and ambitions.
The new sustainability-related regulatory requirements put significant pressure on financial institutions to find the best suitable solutions for their business. This includes exploring the opportunity to use their own ESG rating methodologies to comply with the requirements, as well as providing added value to their clients. We support you with this opportunity.
Within their micro- and macroprudential mandate, regulatory bodies have to address climate-related risks. We offer to review/analyse the current framework and the corresponding instruments at their disposal with a view to including sustainability considerations. In addition, we support authorities by providing a market study, which: a) highlights their new supervisory tasks towards market actors, b) stresses their duties towards other regulatory bodies (e.g. providing information) and c) provides an in-depth market overview of key developments in sustainable finance.
The EU-SFDR obligates you as a financial market participant to disclose to clients and investors how green your financial products are. Moreover, it stipulates that you must disclose how sustainability risks are integrated into the provision of services, for example, portfolio management and investment advice. Under the EU-SFDR, you must classify your financial products into one of three categories: mainstream, light green or dark green. Additionally, it is required that you carry out a due diligence process to consider the “principal adverse impacts”.
You are required to carry out an alignment assessment of your portfolio against the EU-Taxonomy, which defines which economic activities of your underlying investments (companies and projects) are considered as sustainable. By doing so, you are allowed to brand your investments as sustainable. The EU-Taxonomy fights greenwashing and improves transparency for sustainable investments.
Correctly assessing and evaluating climate risks is key to protecting your company value. Therefore, a third-party review of your integrated climate risk framework reduces the risk of being blindsided by any climate risks you have not yet considered and ensures compliant regulatory reporting. Moreover, we are seeing a shift whereby regulators are transmitting current soft laws into strict regulations that need to be adhered to.
Dr. Antonios Koumbarakis
Head Strategic Regulatory & Sustainability Services, Legal, PwC Switzerland
Tel: +41 58 792 45 23