The SEC and sustainable finance

I had the honor to be part of a panel, representing the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), at the Session 2 fireside chat of the GRI-SM Asean Sustainability E-Summit last October 21 with the theme "Leaving No One Behind: Private Sector in Solidarity for Sustainable Covid-19 Recovery and Delivering the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals)." The event was co-organized by the Global Reporting Initiative and SM Investments Corp.

I joined speakers representing regulators, financial institutions, and private sector, and we spoke on how financial markets were driving demand for more sustainable business practices. Panelists included a fellow regulator, Deputy Governor Chuchi Fonacier of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), and from the private sector were Walter Wassmer, senior executive vice president and head of institutional banking at BDO Unibank Inc.; Ayman Doukali, head of sukuk financing at HSBC Malaysia; Chng Bee Leng, senior vice president and risk policy group head at OCBC Bank; Venetia Bell, group chief sustainability officer and head of Strategy of GIB Asset Management; and Esther An, chief sustainability officer at City Developments Ltd. Cathy Yang of PLDT Inc. was the moderator.