Until recently Latin America’s best bank for sustainability in Euromoney’s private banking awards would not have been a domestic franchise. Environmental, social and governance considerations came relatively late to Latin America, and the first wave of ESG-labelled investment funds was an imported novelty from the international banks – particularly the Europeans.
While from a client perspective it is still the case that the region’s wealthy lag Europeans and Asians when it comes to allocating capital to ESG-dedicated strategies, judging by the investment in the area being made by many of the regional banks, it is just a matter of time before private-banking clients begin to take greater interest in these investments.
BTG Pactual is leading the way when it comes to developing its sustainability credentials. It has implemented a world-class set of policies for its own reporting and has built a range of ESG investment consulting products.
The bank is a signatory to various banking initiatives in this area, including Global Compact, Principles of Responsible Banking, Principles for Responsible Investment and Equator Principles – and is part of the Brazilian Sustainability Index (ISE) and the Efficient Carbon Index (ICO2).