–> This is a pre-event interview in the run-up to the Leaders in Sustainable Finance Event on February 1, 2024.
Jeroen: Thank you, Laura van Geest, for joining Leaders in Finance for this pre-event interview. This conversation sets the stage for the upcoming Leaders in Sustainable Finance event on February 1, 2024. To begin, could you please introduce yourself?
Laura: I am Laura van Geest, Chairman of the Board at Autoriteit Financiële Markten (AFM), the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets. AFM supervises the conduct of the entire financial market sector: savings, investment, insurance, loans, pensions, capital markets, asset management, accountancy and financial reporting. The AFM is committed to promoting fair and transparent financial markets. As an independent market conduct authority, we contribute to sustainable financial well-being in the Netherlands.
Jeroen: What do you like about your role?
Laura: Working for the public good has always been an important motivation for me. In addition to being passionate about the public good, my current job at the AFM also has another social motivation: “doing the right thing”. At the AFM, I enjoy the idea that people are having a good time at work. I enjoy working with people and working together to ensure that we achieve the best for the organization, i.e. for the Netherlands.
Jeroen: When you think about Sustainable Finance, what do you think about? Also: what does it mean in your (daily) work?
Laura: The AFM’s mission relates to the sustainability transition in several ways, providing the basis for the AFM’s definition of its own role therein. The availability and quality of information throughout the entire chain continues to be one of the key focus areas of the AFM. This applies all the way from prospectuses and integrated reporting to transparency regarding the integration of sustainability risks in investment portfolios and their effects on sustainability factors.
Jeroen: What is the role the financial services industry has to play or should play in the sustainable transition?
Laura: The transition towards a sustainable society is one of the most important challenges of our time. The AFM recognises the importance of this transition and encourages financial institutions to play their part. Financial institutions mobilise capital for sustainable investment by governments, companies and households and contribute to improving the sustainability of businesses by focussing on sustainable practices in their business operations.
Jeroen: What is the largest challenge for the financial services industry with regard to a sustainable transition?
Laura: Many new regulations are being drafted and implemented to encourage the transition towards sustainability in the financial sector. Shocks in the valuation of instruments, lack of information, information that is not reliable, standardized and comparable and greenwashing are risks that are prioritized in the AFM’s supervision of sustainability.
Jeroen: What are opportunities for the financial services industry with regards to a sustainable transition?
Laura: The AFM considers transparency on sustainability aspects of great importance. We therefore see the growing attention to this by market participants as a positive development. As with other information, sustainability claims should be correct, clear and not misleading. AFM provides tools with information requirements, like the Guideline on sustainability claims, for companies to comply. Sustainability claims need to be accurate, representative and up to date, specific and substantiated, understandable, appropriate and easy to find.
Jeroen: What about the Leaders in Sustainable Finance event are you looking forward to in particular?
Laura: I am looking forward to the interaction with the audience and sharing perspectives on how to achieve the transition to a sustainable society.
Jeroen: Thank you, Laura van Geest, Chair Executive Board at AFM, for your time. We are very much looking forward to having you at the event. Thank you!
–> This is a pre-event interview in the run-up to the Leaders in Sustainable Finance Event on February 1, 2024.