What are investor coalitions doing on financial regulatory reform? /

In early 2013, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) undertook a rapid review of the investor coalitions addressing sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues in the financial sector. In particular, we were interested in the content of work programs and outreach strategies of these initiatives and whether these included activities that seek to examine, discuss or influence financial reform. Since the financial crisis, progress on regulatory reform is sought to ensure that investors and investment intermediaries contribute to sustainable and real economic growth. While we welcome the raft of regulatory and governance reforms on both sides of the Atlantic, they focus on making the existing system safer rather than addressing the fault lines that led to the 2007-08 crisis. The ongoing reforms also fail to increase fiduciary responsibility across the many actors in the financial services sector; peer-to-peer fiduciary responsibility is critical to ensure the stability of financial markets, both nationally and globally. The crux of the IISD Sustainable Finance program stems from our conviction that the root causes of the 2007 crisis remain largely unaddressed.