● New firms bring total members to 50 within the first year of operation.
● Initial set of industry-defined best practices developed.
Sustainable Trading, the non-profit organisation dedicated to transforming Environmental, Social and Governance practices in the financial markets trading industry, today welcomes BNP Paribas Asset Management and Degroof Petercam to its membership network.
Since its launch in February 2022, Sustainable Trading has expanded membership to 50 firms, representing the full spectrum of participants across the financial markets trading industry. BNP Paribas Asset Management, the investment arm of the leading international bank, and independent Belgian investment house Degroof Petercam are the latest to join the growing Sustainable Trading network, increasing the geographic breadth of its members. Other member organisations include global banks, exchanges, investment managers, broker-dealers and trading technology and service providers.
Thanks to the collective efforts of members, an initial set of Sustainable Trading Best Practices have been developed covering themes including trading technology infrastructure, environmental business practices, diversity, equity and inclusion, community engagement, employee wellbeing and improved governance practices. Comprising 34 best practices, with 86 individual elements, these practices were approved for distribution to members earlier in December.
As we develop and further evolve these best practices, Sustainable Trading will also establish and oversee a measurement framework to enable members to extract clear and comparable metrics on progress in their delivery of the practices, facilitating an ethos of continuous Environmental, Social and Governance improvement.
Duncan Higgins, Founder and CEO, of Sustainable Trading, said: “As we approach the end of our first year, we are delighted to bring on board two major European firms. BNP Paribas Asset Management and Degroof Petercam join our diverse membership network dedicated to driving industry-wide Environmental, Social and Governance change. We look forward to their unique perspectives and expertise as they engage with our working groups and contribute to our best practices programme.”
Emmanuel Blanc, Head of Sell-Side Relationship Management, BNP Paribas Asset Management added: “We see Sustainable Trading as an important catalyst of change within the value chain of the asset management industry. Joining this organisation will help us to collectively drive change as well as help us to progress the goals of our Global Sustainability Strategy.”
François Wohrer, Group Head of Degroof Petercam Investment Banking commented: “Creating responsible prosperity is at the core of our DNA and business strategy. We are convinced that we have an active role to play in accompanying positive changes in the financial industry to a more sustainable future. In this regard, we are delighted to join Sustainable Trading and its distinguished list of members. We look forward to helping define industry standards and accelerating the pace of change for ESG within the trading industry. As part of our ESG journey, we are keen to integrate sustainability into the entire value chain which our investment house brings to its clients, of which trading is an integral part”
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