ASrIA member, Standard Chartered Bank hosted a well attended briefing by FTSE Group, an ASrIA member.
Erik Floyd, Joint Executive Director of ASrIA, welcomed participants and described ASrIA's mission to support the development of a strong and vibrant sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) industry in Asia. He also introduced Julian Fong, CFO Asia, Standard Chartered Bank. Julian welcomed everyone and summarised SCB's journey towards sustainable banking and investment practices. Next, Jessie Pak, Director of FTSE Asia, introduced Will Oulton, Director of FTSE’s Responsible Investment Unit (RIU).
Will offered an overview of Responsible Investment (RI) and discussed the development of RI indices including the FTSE4Good, launched in 2001. He noted that US$23 billion is linked to FTSE's RI indices, emphasising that the key RI drivers come from many sources including:
- Growing public and consumer consciousness
- Global public policy and regulatory intervention and compliance and
- Growing influence of non-governmental organisations and emergence of 'sustainability' in business strategies
Next, he described the crucial role of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), an investor-UN initiative, and the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) in improving corporate disclosure and expanding investor engagement and collaboration. Will noted the drivers behind environmental markets and stressed 'building a low carbon economy creates opportunities in investment'. He then described FTSE's Environmental Markets Indices (assets under management of US$3 billion) which include Environmental Technology (ET) and Environmental Opportunities (EO) Index Series. Will focused on the EO indices, highlighting that energy efficiency is driving much of the group.
Will discussed the factors contributing to the growth and performance of the EO Asia Pacific Indices. He showed the strong back testing performance of the FTSE EO Asia Pacific ex-Japan Index, in particular. Will noted the market for environment products and services was US$500 billion in 2008, forecasting a compound annual growth rate of 12-15% over the next 3 to 5 years. He concluded his remarks by stressing that it is not the strongest or smartest company that will survive but the most adaptable.
A lively Q&A followed Will's presentation, which was then followed by brief remarks from Tessa Tennant, Founder and Director of ASrIA, and Ciara Shannon, of Eden Ventures, on the Copenhagen Accords after their attendance there.
Sincere thanks to Standard Chartered Bank for their event support, and to Will Oulton for the well received presentation as well as the valuable networking and contacts exchanged.
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