18th SFI Annual Meeting
The annual conference of the Swiss Finance Institute (SFI) this year centered on impact investing. As highlighted by SFI Managing Director Prof. François Degeorge in his welcome note, the theme raises various questions, not only within the financial industry but also in broader contexts. Key among these is the differentiation between impact investing and ESG, and how it is influenced by ongoing controversies surrounding ESG. Can the pursuit of impact be reconciled with fiduciary duty? Furthermore, do impact investments provide a meaningful complement to government's and NGO's policies regarding achieving positive change?
Addressing these questions, Prof. Andrew W. Lo, Charles E. and Susan T. Harris Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, delivered a keynote presentation. Using the example of bio pharma companies, he elucidated the substantial investment opportunities available to impact-oriented investors. Prof. Andrew W. Lo expressed confidence that significant impact investment opportunities continually arise at universities active in the bio pharma sector.
In the subsequent "Fireside Chat" moderated by business journalist Carolin Roth, UBS Group CEO Sergio P. Ermotti affirmed that the majority of private investors aspire to invest responsibly. He emphasized that the primary role of banks is to educate clients about the diverse possibilities of sustainable investments and actively support and encourage companies on their journey toward a carbon-neutral future.
Expressing a critical perspective in his keynote presentation, Financial Times columnist Stuart Kirk asserted that responsible investors can only achieve impact through dialogue with companies, and especially by steering them toward environmentally friendly realignment. He encapsulated his views with the statement, "You have no impact at all if you sell a company". In the subsequent panel discussion, he concurred with Andrew W. Lo that excluding environmentally harmful companies from the investment universe may be less effective than collaboratively guiding companies involved in fossil fuel extraction toward a carbon-neutral future based on renewable energy.
Concluding the event, SFI Chairman Dr. Stefan Seiler expressed his gratitude to the participants both on and off the stage for their dedicated engagement with the topic. He also announced Lasse Heje Pedersen of Copenhagen Business School as the recipient of the SFI Outstanding Paper Award 2023 for his work titled "Carbon Pricing versus Green Finance", which impressed the SFI jury.
The SFI Roundup "Investing for Impact" can be found here.
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