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zeb provides initial support in integrating sustainability topics in client relations against the backdrop of new regulations and cultural differences.
Daniel Schmid Perez, Senior Consultant at zeb: This was an end-to-end change management process for the sustainability transformation of the bank’s client relationships in light of regulatory and strategic changes. It included training client advisors, setting up support functions, introducing sustainability reporting for clients and developing an ESG methodology to classify all investment products according to their level of sustainability. The task was to reduce a very complex issue to just a few points – what are the bank’s sustainability goals, what are the regulators’ expectations – and to anchor them in the organization in such a way that everything works in the long term and is comprehensible to clients and their advisors.
Daniel Schmid Perez: The support structure is extremely important. The institution must ensure access to relevant information so that client advisors who have questions about a complex client issue, for example, can get answers quickly and reliably. In risk management, there is a first, second and third line of defense to provide triple protection against risks. In this project, we adopted this structure for a first, second and third line of support: front support represents the first line and has access to a knowledge repository to answer questions or appoint further contact persons, the second line is an investment advisory service with sustainability expertise and an IT help desk, and the third line consists of the subject-matter experts. The aim is to answer most questions in the first line of support so as not to overload the middle and back offices.
Daniel Schmid Perez: Client communication and the ESG analysis of individual client portfolios are key. Asset managers must be able to explain to their clients what sustainability means to the bank and how it is defined internally. The ESG methodology, which the company uses to classify investment products according to certain sustainability criteria, is of vital importance in this regard because the definition of sustainability varies from bank to bank or asset manager to asset manager. As yet, there is no internationally valid definition. And it is also a very subjective issue for many clients. Internationally active asset managers, for example, must be in a position to deal with this uncertainty. What is considered sustainable in one country or for one client may be regarded as greenwashing elsewhere.
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