Leading The Sustainability Transformation In Banking - Executive Education

Overview
Programme at a glance
Programme Outline
Programme Faculty
Programme Venue

Overview

LEADING THE SUSTAINABILITY TRANSFORMATION IN BANKING
Sustainability in financial markets is increasingly gaining attention as opportunities and risks arising in this context are changing business practices. Banks are faced with the challenge of accompanying this transformational change and preparing their business for an even more competitive environment that goes beyond classical KPIs and take environmental and social aspects as well as governance (ESG) into account.

This has resulted in ESG considerations becoming not just a nice-to-have but a must-have. It has evolved from a risk management practice to a driver of innovation and new opportunities that create long-term value for business and society. ESG covers environmental issues like climate change and resource scarcity; social issues like labour practices, talent management and data security; as well as governance matters like board diversity and business ethics.

This new programme by the Asian Banking School in collaboration with the renowned Frankfurt School of Finance & Management (Frankfurt School) has been designed specifically for senior level management of banks and finance-related institutions to deepen their knowledge in ESG and take a stronger role in the transformation towards a more sustainable (business) world. At the end of one week, participants will be equipped with the necessary tools and instruments to identify ESG related risk and opportunities, to develop suitable sustainable financial products and to design sound sustainable management processes and strategies for their businesses.
PROGRAMME DETAILS
DATE
15 - 19 JUNE 2020
VENUE
Frankfurt School of Finance and Management,
Germany
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PROGRAMME FEE*
Malaysian Participants
MYR
35,000
per participant
International Participants
EUR
8,000
per participant
* Fee includes full board and accommodation on-campus from 14 - 20 June 2020), as well as programme materials for one participant. It is not inclusive of taxes.

The programme fee is STF claimable for qualifying Malaysian banks. ABS has also received approval for special exemption to be made to the STF Credit Guideline to allow for these financial institutions to claim the full amount of their roundtrip airfare for the purpose of attending the programme.

Programme at a glance

Monday 15 June	Tuesday 16 June	Wednesday 17 June	Thursday 18 June	Friday 19 June
Introduction: Discovering the E, S and G	Change Management: Creating the Sustainability Impact You Want For Your Institution	Impact Investment	ESG Data	Climate Scenario Analysis
Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch
Regulatory Trends	Sustainable Investment Strategies	Site Visit: Best Practice in Sustainable Finance	ESG Ratings & Labels	Communicating Sustainability Effectively Certification Ceremony
Evening Break	Evening Break	Evening Break	Evening Break	Evening Break
Welcome Dinner	Guided City Tour		Farewell Dinner

Programme Outline

Monday, 15 June 2020
Morning Session : Introduction : Discovering the E, S and G
Sustainability has been on the public agenda for many years. Pricing risks and opportunities is one of the basic mechanisms that make financial systems work. This session will introduce how risks and opportunities arise from sustainability aspects and how they can be taken into account in decision-making processes. We discover the three dimensions of sustainability, namely environmental, social and governance (ESG) and show why these non-financial performance indicators are increasingly important for financial institutions and investors likewise.
Afternoon Session : Regulatory Trends
The adoption of two notable international agreements in 2015 – the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on global climate change – has confronted the financial sector with completely new challenges. In this context, the debate about financial market regulation as a means to achieving greater sustainability of the financial sector’s products, services and processes has gained considerable attention. This session, therefore, will introduce students to the most relevant regulatory instruments to support a transformation of the economy induced by the financial sector.
Welcome Dinner
This dinner will provide the opportunity for networking and building relationships.
Tuesday, 16 June 2020
Morning Session : Change Management – Creating the Sustainability Impact You Want For Your Institution
Sustainability is not a trend but will become the new standard. Institutions and organisations, therefore, have to adjust existing business models and processes. In this session, we will showcase how financial institutions could manage and accompany the (institutional) change towards sound sustainable business models. This includes management processes, but also technological evolution, process reviews and organisational restructuring. Through the analysis of different megatrends (such as digitalisation, health, climate change and natural resources), the bridge to general questions of sustainability and strategic orientation is built.

Afternoon Session : Sustainable Investment Strategies
As sustainability issues become increasingly important for asset owners and investors, the sustainable finance industry has evolved from offering lighter-tough approaches towards driving more sophisticated and intensive ways of engagement for these issues. This session explains the different approaches that are used for measuring and managing the non-financial value of investments i.e. the “sustainability” part of an investment and financing. Participants will learn to differentiate different strategies (pathways), from least intense to most intense, allowing them to communicate their mandate for sustainability by selecting the pathway that needs to be followed.

Guided City Tour
Participants will be taken on a guided city tour in the evening to get an opportunity to see the many interesting sights that Frankfurt has to offer.

Wednesday, 17 June 2020
Morning Session : Impact Investment
Even though still located on a small market, impact investment has been growing during the last years. Impact investors seek to make use of the power of finance to generate a financial return while tackling today’s global (social or environmental) challenges. In this session, participants will understand the specifics of this investment strategy (e.g. components, tools and frameworks), get to know current market trends and key players as well as current challenges and how to overcome these. At the end, they will get to design their own impact investment product and present it in class.
Afternoon Session : Site Visit - Best Practice in Sustainable Finance
Learning successfully occurs when participants can not only hear things, but also see and “touch” them. By visiting selected financial sector actors in the city of Frankfurt, participants will have the opportunity to learn from the first movers in the field of sustainable finance and directly address their questions to well positioned practitioners in the field.
Thursday, 18 June 2020
Morning Session : ESG Data
ESG Data is an important information source for integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria in business processes and financial analysis. In this session we will look at how ESG data is defined and which sources and information are needed. This will be followed by a classification of ESG data and an overview of how ESG key performance indicators (KPIs) may look like. We will then shed light on the landscape of ESG data providers, and present their approach for modelling, defining and quantifying ESG KPIs. Participants will then change their perspective and define their own ESG KPIs for given case-studies.
Afternoon Session : ESG Ratings and Labels
After having learned about ESG data, this session will take participants on a journey to explore the world of ESG ratings and labels. ESG ratings and labels can be seen as the products created based on ESG data. In the past years, a variety of ESG rating products have emerged. ESG rating products aim to offer investors insights into ESG risks and opportunities embedded in their portfolios, allowing investors to understand the investee companies’ exposure to and management of ESG issues in various dimensions. We start with a description of origin and evolution of ESG ratings and introduce you to the most relevant providers and products in the market. A systematic approach to categorising (including coverage, scope and methodology) the various ESG rating products helps participants to understand and choose the right approach for their business.
Farewell Dinner
The farewell dinner will be an informal one to celebrate the closing of a successful week and new friendships made. To enjoy the beautiful Summer weather, the dinner will be a barbeque held outside.
Friday, 19 June 2020
Morning Session : Climate Scenario Analysis
Global warming above 2°C relative to the pre-industrial period could lead to adverse economic and social consequences. Financial and non-financial institutions are both likely to be heavily affected by climate change in the mid to long term through physical risks and transition risks. In order to help organisations prepare themselves to better understand future scenarios, participants will be introduced to the concept, methodology and techniques of climate scenario analysis. Scenario analysis approaches have been around for quite some time but since the 2017 Recommendations Report by the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), they have received public attention in the context of climate change. We present several climate scenario-based tools that can be applied in various areas to enable organisations to set science-based targets for emission reduction, to identify climate-related risks and/or to check the consistency of an investment portfolio.
Afternoon Session : Communicating Sustainability Effectively
Do something good and talk about it. In this final session, we show why it is important to communicate effectively about sustainability issues in companies and financial institutions. Sustainability disclosure provides a broader view of a company’s performance than financial disclosure alone. A clear sustainability communication strategy helps organisations to not only build trust among customers and stakeholders, but also supports better decision-making and improves operational efficiency. Students will learn how to incorporate sustainability reporting into management and organisational processes and to communicate effectively to diverse stakeholders.
Certificate Ceremony
This ceremony will see participants receiving their certificates and officially mark the end of the one-week programme.
TRAINING METHODOLOGY
The programme will be a blend of lectures, case discussions and in-class development of practical illustrations to allow for a hands-on experience with the concepts studied and deep learning. A joint excursion to first movers in the field of sustainable finance completes the programmes and additionally caters to the creative learning environment.
Programme Faculty

Karsten Löffler
Co-Head, FS-UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate and
Sustainable Energy Finance
Karsten Löffler co-heads the FS-UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate & Sustainable Energy Finance. Previously working for Allianz Group, he was Managing Director of Allianz Climate Solutions, the Group’s innovation hub in terms of taking advantage of climate-related opportunities and risks in its global business strategy.

Karsten Löffler is a certified international investment analyst (CIIA), member of the steering committee of the Science Platform Sustainability 2030, and represents the Green and Sustainable Finance Cluster Germany on the EU Commission’s Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance. He has been managing director of the Cluster since December 2017. In June 2019, he became Chairman of the Sustainable Finance Advisory Board of the German Government.
Professor Dr Ulf Moslener
Professor of Sustainable Energy Finance, Frankfurt School
Prof. Dr. Ulf Moslener is professor for Sustainable Energy Finance at the faculty of Frankfurt School. As Head of Research at the Centre, his current fields of research are the economics of climate change, financing sustainable energy systems and climate finance. He is a board member of the newly founded Green and Sustainable Finance Cluster Germany, which support the process of transformation to a green and sustainable economy through innovative and scalable support from the financial industry.

Dr. Moslener holds a Diploma in Physics and a PhD in Economics from the University of Heidelberg. After working at the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim, he joined KfW Development Bank in Frankfurt.
Dina Lorentz
Director of Sustainable Finance, Dentons LLP Europe
Dina Lorentz’s educational background is in law and economics. She has extensive experience in mergers & acquisitions, both from a legal as well as a financial perspective, with a special interest in financial institutions, including financial modelling.

In 2013, she made a career and life change with moving to Lima, Peru where she started focusing her personal passion and work ambitions on sustainable finance in general and related financial instruments. In Lima, she was working for one of the largest European impact investing fund managers in the area of microfinance where she headed the operations department of the Latin American fund. In addition, she started her own consultancy work, supporting the Peruvian Government on the development of sustainable corporate governance practices in the industry sectors and by working with developing finance organisations on practical issues of incentivised sustainable lending.

Coming back to Europe in 2016 where she started with the law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, she has been focusing on innovative sustainable financial instruments and related strategies, including bankable and capital markets products for the development of a sustainable environment and investment strategies, such as impact investing. Since November 2018, she has been primarily working as Director for the Sustainable Finance arm of the European Sustainable Investment Practice for Dentons LLP Europe, the largest law firm in the world.

Outside Dentons, Dina is a member of the board and Head of Finance of Oikocredit SA North Germany, a Cooperative of Oikocredit International, a Netherland´s based worldwide cooperative and social investor, providing funding to the microfinance sector, fair trade organisations, cooperatives and small to medium enterprises in Africa, South-East Asia, India and Latin America. In addition, she is a consultant to the Green Sustainable Finance Cluster Germany as well as founding member on the establishment of the Federal Initiative Impact Investing in Germany.
Karl Richter
Co-Founder & Executive Director, EngagedX
Karl Richter is the co-founder of EngagedX, an organisation that specialises in providing consultancy, thought leadership, advocacy and policy work in the field of impact investment. He works internationally across private, public and social sectors.

Currently, he is part of the OECD expert group on social impact investing; Senior Fellow of the Finance Innovation Lab; and Adviser to several organisations. Karl had previously served a 12-month assignment as Head of Research and Knowledge for the UNDP SDG Impact Finance initiative (UNSIF), where he led research to improve the analytical framework for social impact investing and impact management. He was also a member of Groupe d'Experts de la Commission sur l'Entrepreneuriat Social (GECES) of the European Commission to advise on its Social Business Initiative.

Karl has been invited by civil society organisations, academia, governments and the media across Europe, Asia and USA to speak on social impact investing. He lectures at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, and has guest lectured at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; advised the UK Government’s HM Treasury on EU social investment regulations; was invited to submit evidence for alternative finance to the UK's Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards; been asked by the UK Cabinet Office to represent the UK on social investment at EU level; and was invited by the US Secretary of State to be a plenary panelist at the Global Impact Economy Forum in 2012. In 2011, he co-authored ‘Making Good in Social Impact Investment: Opportunities in an Emerging Asset Class'.

Karl holds an MBA specialising in entrepreneurship and project management, writing his dissertation on data interoperability standards and collaboration principles in the building design industry. He started his career as an architect and project manager for multidisciplinary design teams, and has also worked as a development leader for public and private sector construction projects. He was the founding Chair of Friends of the Crystal Palace Subway, a community-led initiative to reopen a historic community asset to the public.
PROGRAMME DIRECTOR
Dr Barbara Drexler
Associate Dean & Head, Sustainable World Academy, Frankfurt School
Dr Barbara Drexler is the Programme Director for the Leading the Sustainability Transformation in Banking Programme. She is Associate Dean and Head of the FS Sustainable World Academy, which offers professional and executive courses dedicated to the advancement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Their value proposition is to educate bankers, microfinance professionals, policy makers, students and businesses dedicated to sustainability about concrete techniques which can be put to use to achieve equitable and environmentally conscientious growth.

Dr Drexler has more than ten years’ experience in higher education management, and her expertise includes curriculum design, business development, quality assurance, and higher education policy. She has worked as a senior expert in Africa, South East Asia as well as the Caribbean and Eastern Europe. Dr. Drexler holds a PhD in Monetary Economics from Witten Herdecke University Germany, a Master in Political Economy from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor in Economics, Politics and Philosophy from the University of York, UK. She continues to teach Economics at undergraduate and postgraduate level both for the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management and the Protestant University Congo, Kinshasa. Prior to joining Frankfurt School in 2007, Dr. Drexler worked for the German Central Bank, Bundesbank.
Programme Venue

FRANKFURT SCHOOL

The School’s main campus at Adickesallee is centrally located in Frankfurt’s Nordend and is part of the “Campusmeile“ that connects Frankfurt’s universities and libraries. Its building is formed through five towers each slightly offset to create a canyon-like space, the “Zeil of Knowledge”– a special characteristic of the campus. This mall acts as the central meeting place and all major facilities like the auditorium, Learning Centre, restaurant, deli, student and alumni relations as well as the seminar rooms are linked to the mall.

Currently, students from almost one hundred countries and from all five continents study at Frankfurt School.

SUSTAINABILITY

SUSTAINABILITY
As the only property used for mixed purposes (offices and university) in Germany, Frankfurt School's main campus was awarded the platinum seal by the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB). To get this award, a building has to meet the highest standards not only regarding its ecobalance and the responsible use of resources, but also concerning indoor air quality, design for all and thermic comfort. With its solar panels and wind turbine on the roof, the gas-powered combined heat and power unit below ground and the electric vehicle charging station on the premises, the campus fulfils all the requirements.

All the images of the Frankfurt School is the copyright of the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management.