It really picked up speed in the last three years, according to Celent’s Wealth Management Analyst Neil Sheehan, who noted some of the progress can likely be attributed to BlackRock and JP Morgan’s progress with sustainable banking.
“Larry Fink [CEO of BlackRock] and Jamie Dimon [CEO of JP Morgan] got together and they put out this push from an institutional side,” Sheehan told The Financial Brand. Typically, the view has been that a corporation maximizes shareholder profits, he explains, but these high-profile financial executives changed the message to, “It’s not just the shareholders that matter. It’s the stakeholders,” which includes employees and the communities they serve.
“There’s been a huge push around investing in things you believe in.”
— Neil Sheehan, Celent
Sheehan says Fink and Dimon were two of the first top executives to outline their sustainability goals, because so many institutions and people look to them to set the standard.
And sustainable banking strategies are just an indicator of a larger trend, Sheehan adds. Consumers want their banking providers to understand their values, whether that be a need for diversity on a board of directors or a focus on human rights and child labor beliefs.
“There’s been a huge push around investing in things you believe in,” Sheehan observes, adding that the environmental element catalyzed the greater ESG movement. The environmental side is the most mature and has traditionally been a focus for many firms.