ESG criteria embedded in Indosuez's DNA

JFD

In the columns of Agefi, Jean-François Deroche, CEO of Indosuez Wealth Management in Switzerland and Chairman of the Board of the Indosuez Foundation in Switzerland, expressed his view on the raison d'être and social commitment of the Indosuez group. The essentials...

February 10, 2020

Globe Green Clouds

About the raison d’être

In this interview, Jean-François Deroche reminds us that Indosuez Wealth Management's business plan for 2022 is consistent the Group’s and is based on Crédit Agricole's ambitions, expertise and synergies in green finance. It revolves around the raison d’être adopted in 2019: "Acting every day in the interest of our customers and society".

A committed player

In order to demonstrate the Indosuez group's commitment, Jean-François Deroche looks back at Crédit Agricole's internal system for steering and measuring its progress in the area of CSR. Since 2012, Indosuez has been carrying out 12 short, medium and long-term projects each year.

This is an opportunity for him to recall that the Crédit Agricole group, a pioneer in climate-related finance for nearly 10 years, has played a major role in setting market standards, and that all Group entities are highly committed. CACIB is the world's leading green bond arranger and aims to double the size of its green finance portfolio to EUR 13 billion by 2022. At the end of 2018, Amundi announced an action plan to increase its commitment to responsible investment. It has particularly undertaken to ensure that 100% of its actively managed funds are ESG-compliant and to double the amounts raised to finance energy transition projects by 2022. 

For its part, Indosuez acts as an intermediary that advises its clients willing to carry out responsible investments by offering them a dedicated offering and raising their awareness through the ESG rating of portfolios and securities. In 2019, a first thematic fund was launched in France and more than EUR 50 million of structured products were issued in collaboration with CACIB.

On the diversity side

Jean-François Deroche addressed diversity as both a necessity and a tremendous opportunity. Indosuez has therefore made gender diversity a central part of its human project and has developed a dedicated action plan with six women employees based on five key areas including capacity-building through mentoring programmes and the involvement of women.

Investing locally

Finally, Jean-François Deroche spoke about the Geneva financial centre which he intends to help position as the world's reference in sustainable finance.

He recalled the commitment of the Indosuez Foundation in Switzerland, which since 2012 has been supporting international environmental projects with a strong economic and social impact on local communities for 2 to 3 years. Every year, it also offers the Group's employees in Switzerland the opportunity to put their skills to good use by getting involved at different levels in the Foundation’s activities: either as a "member of the Advisory Committee", or as a "volunteer" or "project leader" to actively participate in the Citizen Days, its corporate volunteering programme in Switzerland, where Indosuez supports, amongst others, the NGO J'aime ma planète (I love my planet). The latter awakens young people in their school environment to the importance of respecting our environment.

 

Read full interview here (Agefi, Elsa Foret, 04/02/2020)

February 10, 2020

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