The conversation around environmental social and governance (ESG) factors within corporate treasury has been growing rapidly over the past year. More often than not CFOs and treasurers, alongside their banking partners, are looking at impactful solutions to showcase their respective organization’s commitment to sustainability.
Over The Asset’s review period as part of the annual Triple A Treasurise Awards 2023, the team assessed several solutions that addressed different areas of sustainability focus. As in years past, sustainable supply-chain finance continued to be a popular service CFOs and treasurers used to encourage sustainable practices across their value chains. Working with third-party providers for verification, anchor buyer clients of banks would often rate suppliers based on ESG metrics and negotiate with banks on offering favorable cost of financing if a supplier was ESG compliant.
Moreover, banks have also offered sustainable deposits for companies with surplus cash to deploy their capital, under the banks’ portfolio, to support ESG-labelled projects, such as renewable energy ones. While most banks tend to offer ESG-labelled fixed-rate deposits for corporate customers, there is a growing group of service providers now being able to offer sustainable current/savings accounts that allow for intraday liquidity.
In addition, to offering ESG-focused solutions for companies, banks are further committing themselves to support organizations, such as renewable energy and electric vehicle companies, that are actively tackling pressing sustainability issues, such as climate change. Commitments include a range of services from ESG-compliant letters-of-credit facilities to cash management functions with a green overdraft facility.
To see the list of winning ESG solutions, please click here.
Stay tuned in the coming days as more announcements are on the horizon as part of The Asset Triple A Treasurise Awards 2023. To join the in-person annual celebratory dinner on the 23th of May 2023 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong, please contact us at [email protected].
