Deutsche Bank has enhanced its environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy with the opening of a new centre of excellence in Singapore.
The ESG centre of excellence will work across all of the business divisions of Deutsche Bank, focusing on execution of ESG transactions, new product development, and advisory services.
This includes sharing global best practices with Asian regulators and regional bodies such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation.
Additionally, there will be a focus on innovation at the nexus of ESG and to develop new products addressing gaps in the ESG market such as impact monitoring and data management.
The ESG centre of excellence will house a sizable team with ESG expertise and work with coverage and product teams to implement ESG transactions across all business divisions.
As well as this, the ESG centre of excellence is set to launch an ESG Leadership Lecture Series in partnership with academic institutions; an ESG Fellowship Program for graduate students, and an ESG Internship Program for undergraduate students.
Deutsche Bank would also like to set up a partnership with research institutions and global think tanks on ESG research, and ESG Policy Seminars for sovereign and sub-sovereign governments,
Deutsche Bank head of ESG for Asia Pacific (APAC) Kamran Khan says: “The transition of Asia towards sustainable practices requires ESG transaction models, products, solutions and regulatory measures which meet international standards while supporting on-the-ground realities in Asia.”
Khan notes: “By establishing this ESG centre of excellence in Singapore, we aim to set standards for evidence-based, data-driven transactions which can substantiate ESG impact and support sustainable growth.”
Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank has brought forward its target date for €200 billion of sustainable finance by two years to 2023.
Among its principal measures and targets, the bank is publishing annual sustainable finance targets for each business division. Of the target volume, €86 billion is planned to come from the private bank.
According to the bank, 30 billion euros is expected to come from the corporate bank and 105 billion euros from the investment bank.
As an independent, listed company, asset manager DWS reports its own ESG targets separately; they are not included here.
The DWS Group is a German asset management company previously operated as part of Deutsche Bank until 2018 where it became a separate entity through an initial public offering on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
CEO Christian Sewing comments: “We have to progress as quickly as possible from ambition to impact. Since announcing our 200 billion euro target last year, we have made significantly more progress than we anticipated.”
“We now want to achieve this volume sooner and we will report on progress transparently and in detail. By the end of the first quarter of 2021 the bank’s business divisions (not including DWS) had facilitated sustainable finance and investments of 71 billion euros,” adds Sewing.
Elsewhere, Deutsche Bank Securities Services in Singapore and Singapore fintech Hashstacs have completed their proof-of-concept referred to as Project Benja.
