Responsible, patient and reliable finance: trends, challenges and evolution

““Finance is a pillar on which economy and society can build a better future, as long as everybody fully relies on those concepts and principles that inspire and nurture a responsible, patient and reliable finance.””

This is the inspiring message that came loud and clear from the Round Table/panel on Responsible, Patient and Reliable Finance, held during the Opening Week of the 22^nd edition of SDA Bocconi’s Master in Corporate Finance.

41 students from over 20 countries had the opportunity to reflect on the role of finance in channeling capital towards those investments that support a resilient economy as well as in building a financial system that supports sustainable growth.

Moderated by Michele Calcaterra, SDA Bocconi professor of ESG Finance, and by MCF Director Federico Pippo, Silvia Ghielmetti (Crif), Valeria Toscano (UniCredit), Gianluca Manca (Eurizon) and Francis Ravano (Erg) highlighted how the EU regulation on Sustainable Finance increased the pressure on financial markets and their players, especially now that reputation and transparency are currently under the spotlight.

Financial markets drive companies, which are in turn reviewing their strategies to focus on innovation, transformation and risk management as the integration of ESG factors becomes crucial to maintaining competitiveness. Asset managers have an increasing responsibility to better understand and disclose sustainability, and rating agencies cannot further postpone the integration of measurable ESG risk with credit risk. To this end, companies, financial institutions, asset managers and rating agencies should cooperate to create a standardized framework to measure corporate ESG.

Financial institutions have supported companies in the transition towards sustainability, and the ESG Finance market is expected to continue its growth path. Together with regulation, the key factors of this development will be a growing interest in social issues, more ambitious climate change targets and an increasing focus of debt issuers on ESG performance.



SDA Bocconi School of Management