Imfino News

January 31, 2019 - More and more clients from ABN AMRO continue to show increasing interest in Sustainable Investing, with 80% of new Investment clients opting for this offering. Following a successful pilot training session in December, the bank has committed to train 900 private bankers and investment advisors from different countries to offer them additional knowledge in Sustainable Investing in close collaboration with Oxford University.

Training on Sustainable Investing

Last year 900 colleagues followed an e-learning course on the theory surrounding Sustainable Investing based on the ‘United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment’ (PRI). These same colleagues will now receive an additional and in-depth training provided by Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. In a classic classroom setting they will receive further explanation on the theory from the e-learning and the implementation of Sustainable and Impact Investing. This will be provided in the training ‘Oxford Fundamentals of Sustainable Investing Programme’ carried out across the ABN AMRO offices in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France. At a later stage the colleagues will receive additional workshops on the specific Sustainable products and services offered by ABN AMRO.

Working with Oxford

ABN AMRO is working on this training programme with Oxford University. Professor Robert Eccles, Visiting Professor of Management Practice and advisor of this customised programme, is highly respected in the field of integration of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors in, for example, investment choices. ‘This training programme takes place at the perfect moment,’ states Professor Eccles. ‘Twenty years ago companies started to see the importance of sustainability, but on a very small scale with minimal budget. Over the past 3 years this has completely changed. For example, in all outstanding investments in the United States approximately 25% of the ESG factors have been taken into account in the investment decisions. In Europe this figure is already at 50%.’

Taking steps

Pieter van Mierlo, CEO Private Banking of ABN AMRO: ‘This programme is a strong contribution to our Group Sustainable strategy of ABN AMRO. Colleagues are happy that they will receive this training, only when the knowledge of our colleagues increases, we can better service our clients in their Sustainable journey. We want to make the world a better place with our clients as well as help our clients achieve their goals and wishes.’

Setting goals

As of 2018 new Investment clients of ABN AMRO in the Netherlands receive a Sustainable offering by default. The Bank strives to double their 8 bln (figure as of 2017) of Sustainable assets by 2020. The current amount of Sustainable assets is 13 bln.