Overcoming the main ESG investing challenges
Oxford/23 Congress Final Report
This comprehensive report delves into the intricacies of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing, shedding light on the challenges and opportunities within the investment landscape.
Introduction
Over the last decade, Sustainability and Net Zero Transition have become an unavoidable topic among participants in the investment industry. For asset managers, especially in Europe, ESG regulation has forced them to rethink the strategic pillars of the business not only in terms of investments, but also regarding its structure, governance, product development practice, relationships with clients and data providers, employees, and supervisory bodies, regulators, and distributors… We can no longer discuss ESG as a side business or a chosen path. Sustainable Investing is leading the investment industry revolution towards a new and more sustainable way to do business.
This document compiles all the individual papers and proposal documents resulting from the analysis and research work carried out by the Working Groups and individual professionals that were called upon by Fide’s GET-2 Think-Tank, for the 2023 Oxford Congress: Overcoming the main ESG investing challenges.
The report is enriched with insights from five specialized working groups, each focused on a distinct facet of ESG investing, and it extends actionable recommendations for the investment industry to navigate ESG challenges.
GET-2 ESG Think-Tank participants
This document has been prepared by professionals who are part of the Fide Foundation’s Global ESG Think-Tank Road to Oxford Programme. In this section, we wish to highlight them all, acknowledging their vast contributions to the project.
Find here the complete list of professionals who have participated in this document, either by being part of one of the working groups or by having attended the 2023 Oxford Congress and shared their views with the rest of the congress attendees.
We wish to thank them all for their invaluable insights, with a special acknowledgment to all the Working Group Leaders (highlighted in green):
Directors
- Juan Ramón Caridad, Member of Fide´s Board. Managing Director at GAM Investments
- Ana Rivero Fernández, Global Technical Coordinator of the Global ESG Think-Tank – GET-2
- Cristina Jimenez Savurido, President and Founder of Fide Foundation
Participants
Pablo Alonso Montes, Senior Manager in KPMG
Eduardo Antón, Vice President – Product Solutions – Wealth Management. Itaú Unibanco IEB
Sergio Aratangy Rosenberg, Head of Financial Division, Chilean Pension Funds Superintendence
Guillermo Arthur, President of the International Federation of Pension Fund Administrators (FIAP)
Rita Azahar Hamden Villalobos, Responsible Consultant at Novaster Mexico
Marisa Balzarini, Head of Sustainability at Sura Asset Management
Clotilde Bobineau, SRI Analyst at VidaCaixa
Elena Carranza, Marketing Manager Iberia, Columbia Threadneedle
Víctor Augusto Cos Montiel, CFA. Director of Risk Management Process Supervision and Financial Inspection at CONSAR
Guendalina Boris, Chairwoman and General Director of Inversis Gestion
Eric Borremans, Head of Environmental, Social & Governance, Pictet Asset Management
Álvaro Carbón Ripepi, Executive Director of GAM Investments
Rodrigo Chávez, Head of the Financial Risk Department at the Superintendency of Pensions of Chile
Mike Clark, Founder Director, Ario Advisory
Ben Constable-Maxwell, Head of Impact Investing, M&G Investments
Clara Crespo Ruiz de Elvira, Economic and Commercial Counsellor, Embassy of Spain in Washington DC
David de Miguel Rato, Deputy Director, Policy and Sustainable Finance, CNMV
Carlos Diaz Núñez, Global Hed of Product in Santander Asset Management.
Raúl Alfonso Espinoza Estrada, Head of Strategy Investments at Operadora de Pensiones Complementarias de la CCSS
Carolina Fernández, Co-head of ESG and sustainable finance unit and Senior expert in regulatory and public affairs at Inverco
Sandra Fernández, Marketing & Client Servicing Manager at Pictet Asset Management
Guillermo Fernández Zubia, Financial Sector Analyst at The World Bank Group
María Pilar Galán Gavilá, Partner Head of Financial Services Legal at KPMG Spain
Carlos Garay Gómez-Arroyo, Responsible for ESG investments at Sabadell Urquijo Gestión
Eduardo García Hidalgo, Global Chief Investment Officer at BBVA Asset Management
Rubén García Páez, Head of Iberian & Latam Distribution at Columbia Threadneedle
Alberto Gómez Reino, Head of Sustainable Investments at BBVA AM
María José Gómez Yubero, Head of Resolution, Benchmarks and Financial Stability Issues at the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV). Academic advisor to Fide
Andrea González González, Deputy Director General at SpainSIF
Luis González González, Head of Sustainability at BBVA Quality Funds
Asunción González, Head of Economic Studies at AMAFORE
Eva M. Gutiérrez, Lead Financial Economist at the World Bank. Member of Fide’s International Academic Council
Ana Guardia, Head of Capital Markets, ICO
Ana Guzmán Quintana, Head of Impact Investments, Portocolom AV
Guillermo Hermida, Head of ESG, La Caixa
Sara Margarita Hernández Hernández, Project Leader in the General Directorate of Financial Risk Management at CONSAR
Rocío Jaureguizar Redondo, Sales Manager and ESG Specialist at Pictet Asset Management
Benjamin Kelly, Director of ESG & Impact Columbia Threadneedle Investments
Philip Kemp, Investment Writer at M&G Investments
Naomi Kwan, Sales Support and interest in ESG at M&G
Philippe Le Gall, Senior ESG Engagement Specialist at Pictet Asset Management.
Florencia López André, Risk Control Manager at ATL Capital
Stephanie Maier, Global Head of Sustainable and Impact Investment, GAM Investments
Jaime Martínez Gómez, Global Head of Asset Allocation. BBVA Asset Management
Roberto Mendoza, Investment and Risk Director at AMAFORE
Gonzalo Meseguer Muñoz, General Manager at Santalucía AM
Daniela Mohr, Senior Responsible Investment Analyst at AFP Cuprum
Carlos Montalvo Rebuelta, Partner PwC
Javier Moraga Ramírez, Head of Fund Selection & ESG Integration at AFP Cuprum
Carlos Moreno, Sales Director Iberia, Columbia Threadneedle Investments
María Noel Urban, Alternative Asset Investment Specialist, AFAP SURA
Eric Osio Cerón, General Director of Risk Management at CONSAR
Laura Palomo Aguado, Legal Advisor at the Spanish Association of Collective Investment Schemes and Pension Funds (Inverco)
Valdemar Perot, Investment Analyst at AFP HABITAT
Cristian Ramírez, Financial Risk Analyst at the Superintendency of Pensions of Chile
Gonzalo Rengifo Abbad, Head of Distribution – Iberia, LatAm at Pictet Asset Management
Paula Rienzi, Credit Risk Specialist at SURA Uruguay.
Gizelle Rivera Contreras, Deputy Director of Financial Research at the Financial Vice-Presidency of CONSAR
Ignacio Rodríguez Añino, Responsible for the Commercial Development of M&G Investments in Spain and Latin America
Laura Sacristán Martín, Chief Commercial Officer at Grupo BME-SIX. Academic Advisor to Fide
Gloria Sánchez Soriano, Senior Advisor of the Digital Finance Department at the Institute of International Finance – IIF
Agustín Sheppard Gelsi, Chief Risk Officer of UniónCapital AFAP
Faisel Syed, ESG Specialist at Pictet Asset Management
Manuel Tabilo, Research Manager at FIAP
James Upton, Senior Corporate Governance Specialist, Pictet Asset Management
Belén Vila Martínez, Fund Analyst in Banco Santander
Manuel Zapata, Financial Analyst at the Superintendency of Pensions of Chile
Furthermore, this document is signed in a personal capacity and does not represent the official position of the institutions or entities to which the members of the group belong.
The document reflects not only the work done but also the analysis carried out, providing conclusions and justifications, considering the personal experience of the members of the group.
Members of Fide’s team that have participated in this initiative:
- Alvaro Arribas, Marketing and Digital Development at the Fide Foundation
- Cristina Arribas, Academic Coordinator at the Fide Foundation
- Victoria Dal Lago, Academic Director at the Fide Foundation
- Carmen Hermida, Managing Director at the Fide Foundation
- Lucía Hernández, Academic Coordinator at the Fide Foundation
- Blanca Jimenez, Marketing Assistant at the Fide Foundation
GET-2 ESG Think-Tank collaborating entities
This initiative has had the support of key financial industry players committed to propelling the financial industry into a sustainable future.
Columbia Threadneedle Investments
Columbia Threadneedle Investments is a leading global asset management group that provides a broad range of actively managed investment strategies and solutions for individual, institutional, and corporate clients around the world. Our focus is on meeting our client’s expectations through a team-based, risk-aware, and profit-oriented approach.
With a workforce of more than 2,000 employees, including more than 450 investment professionals based in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia, we manage assets in equities, fixed income, asset allocation solutions, and products—alternatives from emerging and developed markets.
Columbia Threadneedle Investments is the global asset manager of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE: AMP), a leading U.S.-based financial services company. Being part of Ameriprise, we are supported by a large financial services company widely diversified and capitalized.
For more information:
Pictet Asset Management
Pictet Asset Management is an independent asset manager, overseeing investments across a range of equity, fixed income, alternative, and multi-asset products on behalf of our clients, whose purpose is to build responsible partnerships with our clients, colleagues, communities, and the companies in which we invest.
They are part of the Pictet Group, an investment-led services group founded in Geneva in 1805 whose unique partnership structure has provided the stable foundation for long-term thinking.
For more information:
GAM Investments
GAM Investments is an independent, pure play asset management group created in 1983 with the purpose of protecting and enhancing our clients’ financial future. GAM’s core investment strategies focus on fixed income, equity, multi asset & solutions and systematic, and include environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. By attracting and empowering the brightest minds to think beyond the obvious, GAM strives to provide investment leadership, innovation and a positive impact on society and the environment. By living our purpose every day, we believe that we can realise our vision of building the most respected specialist active investment manager and trusted solutions and services platform in the world.
For more information:
M&G Investments
M&G Investments is a global asset manager, serving customers and clients for more than 90 years since launching Europe’s first-ever mutual fund back in 1931. We’re part of M&G plc, a family of brands, all aligned behind the same ambition: to manage our customers’ investments so that they can live the life they want while aiming to make the world a little better along the way. Through long-term active investment management, we build solutions around what matters most to our customers and clients, looking for the best opportunities to invest in, across a wide range of asset classes.
For more information:
FIAP
The International Federation of Pension Fund Administrators (FIAP) brings together the associations and entities that manage pension funds from 10 countries (Bolivia, Costa Rica, Chile, El Salvador, Spain, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Uruguay). Its objective is to collaborate in the improvement and consolidation of pension systems based on individual savings, to offer the best possible pension to workers, within a financially sustainable system and contributing to the economic growth and development of the countries.
For more information:
Instituto BME
Instituto BME is BME’s training center and a close collaborator of the National Financial Education Plan in Spain. It focuses on training services relating to finance and financial markets. The training programs promoted by Instituto BME are aimed at professionals in the financial sector and its regulatory bodies, individual investors, students, and anyone interested in entering or deepening their knowledge of the world of finance. Instituto BME further expanded its course platform Braindex, which offers an online educational environment. Braindex offers 85 courses with different levels. Around 25% of the courses on Braindex are accessible free of charge. All the courses both in Instituto BME and Braindex have the following thematic axes: markets and products, technology applied to financial markets, and financial regulation. In this way, BME facilitates the development of society’s financial skills, promoting a better understanding of financial products, concepts, and risks through training, instruction, and advice.
For more information: