Agenda

Registration and coffee

Chairman's opening remarks

ESG Capital Markets into the mainstream: The role of governments and regulators

• Climate stress testing: What is the objective? What does the financial industry need to prepare for? What will the outcome be?
• Sharing best practice internationally (in light of the global climate crisis)
• Initiatives to encourage Green and ESG lending

Spearheading ESG capital markets integration: What is the right mix of regulation, and legislation for the market to flourish?

• EU Green Taxonomy – too prescriptive, not enough or just right? Understanding the industry’s feedback post the draft phase
• What do the People’s Bank of China Guidelines for Establishing the Green Financial Systementail and is this impacting market technicals for the green bond market in China?
• To what extent do government led frameworks provide investors, issuers and financiers the confidence to issue debt under this umbrella?
• How easily can one set of guidelines be reproduced in other geographies? Are the frameworks encouraging or deterring issuers – DM vs. EM, IG vs. HY

Speakers

• Hakan Lucius, Head of Corporate Responsibility and Civil Society Division, European Investment Bank

• Alyssa Heath, Head of EU and UK Policy, Principles for Responsible Investing

How green (and sustainable) is green (and sustainable) enough to secure capital and investment mandates?

• Balancing sustainability and liquidity: Is ESG/green attracting greater liquidity into deals or are deals losing investors when there isn’t enough presenting of ESG?
• How much scrutiny are investment managers under to incorporate ESG into their portfolios? What is the minimum level of ESG-integration for investors to hold onto mandates?
• How much is ESG impacting issuers when they are fund raising? What are the expectations amongst investors for issuers to present on their ESG and their financials?
• Can the investor and issuer universe converge on a set of ESG standards across asset classes that supports development of the market (boosting liquidity) and meets UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)?

Speakers

• Bryn Jones, Head of Fixed Income, Rathbone Brothers Plc

• Sonya Dilova, Director, Emerging Markets Corporates, BMO Global Asset Management

• Agnes Belaisch, Chief European Strategist, Barings

• Thomas Archer, Global Fixed Income, Nikko Asset Management

Coffee and networking

SDG-linked bonds and loans: A bridge to transition oil, gas, mining and airline sectors to the sustainable finance market?

• What is the SDG-linked bond? How can SDG open the market to companies with low(er) ESG scores?
• Market sentiment and feedback of the Enel SDG-linked bonds: Are investors convinced?
• How are SDG-linked bond structured and priced? Who buys them? Does the coupon ratchet cause issues for fixed income investors’ portfolios?
• Transition finance vs./and sustainable finance: Is there another way to deepen the market?

Speakers

• Salima Lamdouar, VP Thematic Credit, Alliance Bernstein

Establishing benchmarks and a common language: The role of third-party assessors and ratings

• Objectifying the subjective: How to standardise criteria/ratings for a theme as fluid as the environment, sustainability and governance
• How to assess and rate Sustainable and Green: Navigating the data, what to extract, and what to use
• Which sectors and asset classes are already well covered from a data perspective? Which are lacking? Is this impacting the ‘invest-ability’ and growth/development of certain sectors?
• What are the steps towards standardisation for the industry?

Credit returns vs. ESG ratings: Are investors forced to compromise on returns by staying true to ESG criteria/principles?

• Responsible investing vs. delivering returns: Is there any correlation between companies’ ESG scores and their credit worthiness/ability to repay debt?
• How are investors incorporating ESG into their portfolios? What impact is this transition having on returns and profits?
• The elephant in the room: How to continue investing into oil, gas, mining and countries with poor governance? What role do investors play in maintaining their spectrum of investable credits/assets?
• Sanction or reward? Should investors sanction those companies who are non-compliant and have low ESG scores? Or should those with sustainable development goals (SDG) be rewarded? How inclusive should changes the way organisations fund themselves be?

Speakers

• Sergio Trigo Paz, Head of Emerging Market Debt, Blackrock

Networking lunch

Journeying through sustainable development goals: From ESG policy setting to issuing Sustainable Bonds

• Corporate finance and an ESG policy: Where to start?
• How is environmental, sustainable, and governance principles integrated into the core of your business? How do you then successful document and communicate this to investors and financiers?
• Making sense of the eco-system: What to know about rating, reporting, investment, and capital deployment
• What role do investors, bankers, regulators and legislators play in advising and preparing issuers? Are investors driving the agenda or regulators and governments?
• Issuing ESG capital markets instruments and Sustainable bonds: Process, structuring and execution

Speakers

• Axel Bendiek, Head of Treasury and Investor Relations, Ministry of Finance of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia

Why getting ESG financing and sustainable investment in emerging markets should have the greatest impact and possibly greatest returns?

• Pioneering issuers of green bonds, green sukuks, SDG linked bonds and loans: understanding the process for debut issuers and how they overcame challenges and obstacles
• Do ESG and SDG linked debt products differentiate EM issuers in the market – particularly in the eyes of investors?
• Understanding the tangible and non-tangible benefits of going green – unearthing common misconceptions

Speakers

• Greg Saichin, Advisor, Even Keel Family Office

• Sergey Dergachev, Functional Head EM Corporate Debt, Union Investment Privatfonds GmbH

• John Bates, EM Corporate Analyst/PM, PineBridge Investments

Coffee and networking

How are fixed income investors able to improve the ESG score of issuers?

• How are investors able to motivate/encourage issuers to improve their ratings?
• Sovereign issuers: Differentiating credit rating from ESG rating – what are sovereigns doing and do they understand how investors perceive these risks differently?
• How the sovereign restructuring process can positively impact the G in ESG

Speakers

• AJ Mediratta, President, Greylock Capital

• Marshall Stocker, Co-Director of Emerging Markets, Portfolio Manager, Eaton Vance Management

• Giulia Pellegrini, Deputy Chief Investment Officer, Emerging Markets Debt, Allianz Global Investors

Can Islamic Finance and ESG financing be integrated? Evaluating the synergies

• Great in theory but where is the evidence to show that Islamic finance and ESG principles can work harmoniously?
• A case in point: assessing the journey of the green sukuk from objective, structure, pricing, and execution?
• Evaluating the difference in issuing USD Sukuks and local currency – how do the markets differ?
• Understanding your target investor: who is looking to buy these sukuks? Is there a secondary market for them?

Speakers

• Patrick Drum, Portfolio Manager, Saturna Capital

• Ayman Sejiny, Chief Executive Officer, Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD)