Research Newsletter: Winter 2022–23

Dear colleagues,

Warm Winter Greetings and Happy New Year! We hope that your 2023 has gotten off to a great start — that you’ve spent time with loved ones, taken space to recharge, reflect, celebrate, and that you’re ready to dive into another impactful year. We certainly are!

As my time in Singapore with the CSP Singapore Team and as a Visiting Senior Researcher at National University of Singapore continues, I’ve been amazed at what we’ve been able to achieve here in the last few months. 153 wealth holders and 104 wealth managers have been trained, accreditation from the local regulator and funding from the central bank received, and collaborations with teams both at NUS and Singapore Management University struck up.

Meanwhile, big things are happening in Zurich and North America as well.

In November, CSP’s own Andrew Douglas shared insights from the 4th Private Banking Report with more than 250+ members of the Swiss Association of Wealth Managers, reflecting on progress made and highlighting concrete changes that will be needed to improve banks’ sustainable investing competence.

As the Swiss Government continues to invest in making Switzerland a h​ub for sustainable finance, we are happy that our findings have contributed and look forward to continuing to work towards these goals. Concretely, our next Sustainable Investing in Wealth Management course will do exactly that: prepare Wealth Managers to be world-class Sustainable Finance professionals.

Towards Impact,

contact Falko

Upcoming Training

Interested in advancing your career in sustainable finance and taking advantage of this rapidly emerging field? Combining cutting-edge research, practice, and investors’ insights, our 2-day course “Sustainable Investing for Wealth Management” will help you develop and implement strategies with impact at their core. The course will take place online on February 2nd and 3rd. Sign up here by January 30th.

Our Latest Publications

Does Every Little Bit of ESG Integration Help?

Does ESG integration in fact have impact? Does it have societal benefits? Harald Walkate explores these questions in his latest article for Stanford Social Innovation Review, a review of CSP’s report “Does ESG integration impact the real economy?” Read the article here.

Behind the scenes of CSP’s flagship research report “Investor’s Guide to Impact”

“[CO2 neutrality] requires binding regulations in the real economy, such as a CO2 tax,” argues Julian Kölbel in this article for the Swiss research magazine Horizo​nte (in German). The article also reviews CSP’s “Investor’s Gu​ide to Impact,” a guide with the tools and knowledge to make informed investment decisions toward impact, which the Swiss Federal Council included in their November 2021 report.

Finance: an agent of system change?

What role does the finance sector have in response to the multiple chaotic transitions underway? Long-term economic growth and social stability are not a given. Planetary health and stability seem to be slipping from our grasp. This paper by Forum for the Future, includes the feedback of CSP’s Head of Trainings, Francesca Spoerry, and looks at some of the innovative ideas gaining interest in corners of the finance sector.

Global crisis prompts younger investors to look more towards Swiss “leaders”

“It is interesting to see how sustainability-oriented investors position themselves during a crisis,” argues Julian Kölbel in this article for the Swiss new site Allnews (in French).

News from CSP Collaborators

In February, Britta Grünig will lead the morning of the first Sustainability and Responsibility Forum of the FBN-The Family Business Network in Miami. In this session, Britta will guide around 70 Next Gens to become agents for regeneration within themselves, their family, business, and investments.

On February 9th, Julian Kölbel will host a panel discussion about the fastest growing asset class in sustainable financing with four experienced experts.

This event is organized by the Center for Financial Services Innovation at the University of St. Gallen.

Harald Walkate has been appointed member of the advisory committee to the Financial Conduct Authority’s Board of the UK to work on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) issues. He is also Illuminem’s #1 most-read thought leader in sustainable finance. We wish you all the best in these important tasks.

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Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth
Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth

Written by Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth

CSP is a research center at UZH. We conduct research and train wealth owners & investment professionals in order to move capital towards sustainable growth.