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| THE TRAILBLAZERS |
In 2008, SEB helped the World Bank issue the first ever green bond for institutional investors.
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Paula da Silva |
“Investors were demanding green bonds, so SEB delivered,” says Paula da Silva, head of transaction banking at SEB. “Since then, our corporate clients are increasingly asking us what we are doing to become a green bank, or how we are supporting sustainable supply chains. Now, this is something we focus on every day.”
Supply-chain finance is a particular focus for the bank and da Silva herself.
“We work with a variety of international institutions to determine whether or not each part of the supply chain is sustainable,” she says. “But this is still a work in progress: determining sustainability at each stage of the supply chain can be a lengthy process. As such, it is all of our responsibility at the bank to make sure we are doing the best we can.”
Team effort
Although da Silva is leading the way, this has to be a team effort, she says.
“At SEB, we don’t just have a corporate social responsibility division or head that leads our sustainability drive. Instead we all push forward this agenda – it has to be like this if we want to make a difference.
“And this has to be the case for all banks, eventually. For this to have any meaningful impact – for supply-chain finance to be truly sustainable – this needs to be at the core of each and every bank,” says da Silva.
“We don’t have any specific partnerships in place with other banks at the moment, but this is something we will look into if we find a bank that has the same sustainability goals as us. For now, though, we will lead the charge.”
Before taking up her current position, da Silva worked in country risk management, client relationship management and in sales in a variety of location in the SEB network, including New York City and São Paulo.
