Wealth management is increasingly becoming synonymous with sustainable management. But at what point is the integration of Esg issues into the world of Wealth management?
Explaining how things stand is Chiara Frigerio, professor of Business Organization and secretary Cetif Università Cattolica in Milan. "Esg issues are now central to the world of Wealth manage-ment," says Frigerio, "suffice it to say that a market analysis shows that, at the European level, investors have indicated that they want to reach the 50 percent share of assets in sustainable management, in the next three years. That context suggests that financial institutions must be ready to support growth by integrating Esg features into the analysis of financial performance, through an advisory process that supports investors in building resilient portfolios." If this is the current situation, one wonders what the room for growth is. Chiara Frigerio has no doubt. "With the introduction of Sustainable finance disclosu-re regulation (Sfdr), Europe has taken an active role in implementing sustainable finance policies, and this looks set to continue. One of the most relevant critical issues with respect to the development of sustainable investments is determined by the quality of the data certifying the actual correspondence between companies' disclosures and sustainability goals actually achieved. For a process of growth to be consolidated, the most important challenge will therefore be the availability of common platforms that integrate data sources to have more accurate estimates of risk and with synthetic indices that certify the actual sustainability of an investment. This, moreover, will also reduce phenomena such as: Green washing (pure marketing approach), Green shopping (basically correct but passive strategic approach, without effective risk ge-stioning) and Green shirking (focusing efforts on sustainability applied only to processes characterized by high visibility)."
Like Cetif, what analytical and support activities are you carrying out on the ESG front? "We immediately detected the significant increase in attention to ESG issues and therefore activated a series of consistent and functional initiatives. The ESG - Sustainable Finance HUB was created, a research track in which the Financial Community meets to con-divide studies, best practices and benchmarks. To take a snapshot of the Esg factor in the SME context, with reference to access to credit and access to Esg funds, researchers Cetif met with some of the key financial stakeholders. The lack of a uniform taxonomy on sustainable activities, the absence of standard processes for collecting and evaluating information (rating), and the scarcity and low quality of the same are the rea-le critical factors. This is where the new ESG on chain sandbox of Cetif Advisory comes in, which will enable the SME ecosystem and financial players to co-create and test the technology platform based on blockchain. Finally, in November 2022, the Level II Master's degree Innovability Management: innovation, digital and sustainability, in synergy with Altis (Alta Scuola Impresa e Società), will start for professionals who want to acquire strategic visio-ne, skills and functional tools to go-vernate the transformation and growth of organizations. Esg will also be covered in depth at the upcoming Summit on June 8, 2022."