ESG in practice: results from a global bank survey

A sustainable economy is becoming increasingly necessary, and regulatory attention to environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues is growing. Banks around the world are being called upon to consider the associated risks.

For our global survey „ESG Risk Management in Banks“ , we spoke to 111 banks in over 20 countries and asked how ESG criteria impact risk assessment and management strategies.

The results show that banks still have a long way to go. Most financial institutions expect to fully integrate ESG risk drivers by 2025 or later.

Regulators and other stakeholders are expected to increase the pressure on banks. The integration of ESG risk drivers into established processes such as lending, monitoring or ICAAP will be a key issue for future strategies.

As the impact of climate change and transformation efforts intensify, banks are increasingly investing in ESG risk management to manage the associated risks.

Banks around the world face similar hurdles in terms of available and high-quality data, changing regulatory requirements and insufficiently qualified staff.

Despite all the hurdles, banks are taking ESG risk management seriously. This is reflected in significant and increasing investment budgets in all markets, especially among the large banks.

You can find all the results and possible fields of action in our white paper "ESG Risk Management in Banks".