Fifty years ago, Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman stated that the social responsibility of the corporation is to maximize profits. Until recently this Friedman doctrine has reigned supreme in the corporate and investment world, and the principle that companies should strive to maximize shareholder value was widely accepted. Today, this consensus no longer exists, as Prof. François Degeorge, Managing Director of the Swiss Finance Institute (SFI) explained in his Welcome Note. 

In academia, in the corporate world, and in society, the primacy of shareholder value is increasingly being called into question—especially against the backdrop of the current climate debate, as Professor Oliver Hart of Harvard University pointed out in his guest presentation. The Nobel laureate illustrated his thesis with the example of shareholder voice, which is still underestimated and can influence companies to adopt environmentally friendly business models much more effectively than can any shareholder exit strategy.

Dr. iur. Katja Roth Pellanda, Group General Counsel of Zurich Insurance, focused on the question of where in the company ESG decision-makers should be located from a governance perspective and on how effective, credible ESG strategies should be implemented, while Philipp Rickenbacher, CEO of the Swiss private bank Julius Baer put (banking) clients at the heart of his remarks. In his presentation, he pointed out that private investors have, due to their large numbers, an enormous stakeholder impact and can significantly accelerate the transformation to a sustainable real economy through balanced investment decisions—and will probably do so due to their own values and in view of the global challenges facing society today. In this context, he sees the role of banks as that of a navigator and catalyst when it comes to preparing ESG information and interpreting it for clients.

In his closing remarks, Dr. Romeo Cerutti, General Counsel of Credit Suisse Group and Chairman of the SFI Foundation Board, addressed the need for strong and stringent governance structures, including in the ESG context. The SFI Annual Meeting was moderated by Carolin Roth, who skillfully incorporated the views of all speakers and the audience.