Deutsche Börse to launch Sustainable Finance Initiative 

Deutsche Börse will be launching the Sustainable Finance Initiative in Frankfurt. The aim is to establish new interdisciplinary structures for sustainable entrepreneurship along with some 100 of the financial centre’s key participants in order to explore new business areas. Banks, financial institutions, rating and ranking agencies, investors, insurance companies, data providers and representatives from the public, academic, NGO and church sectors will be involved.

“The entire financial world is facing a vast transformation process. As an international infrastructure provider based in Frankfurt, we believe it is also our responsibility to bring all relevant parties together. In addition, we want to contribute driving sustainable progress and innovation forward with this initiative,” noted Deutsche Börse CEO Carsten Kengeter.

The Sustainable Finance Initiative is intended to serve as a platform for dialogue regarding all issues concerning the financial system’s future viability and to launch specific initiatives and projects involving all players. It will focus on aspects such as to what extent capital markets promote innovative investment strategies and how to establish medium to long-term opportunity and risk management as a means of ensuring systemic stability. The launch conference will be held on 23 May 2017 at the Alte Börse in Frankfurt.

The importance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) data to medium to long-term prospects of a company’s success has been growing steadily since the financial crisis. More and more, investors, clients, analysts and regulators are expressly demanding that companies also publish ESG data in addition to their traditional key financials. Furthermore, investors are increasingly focusing on sustainable investment strategies. According to a study conducted by the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing, around one sixth of all assets under management around the world, or approximately US$6.6 trillion, are already invested based on sustainable criteria. This is not least due to international initiatives such as the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals and the conditions under the world climate agreement defining new roadmaps that demand business come up with new solutions. Also the G20’s focus on green finance under Germany’s presidency and the Hesse state government’s commitment to establishing a green finance cluster are dedicated to this issue.

Sustainability also plays an increasingly large role for Deutsche Börse Group and is firmly embedded as an aspect of its Accelerate growth strategy. A sustainability board has been set up to further develop the group-wide sustainability strategy along the entire value chain, which consequently expands the sustainable investment product range. Deutsche Börse offers a broad range of sustainability indices via its index subsidiary STOXX, which now numbers 100 having more than doubled last year.