«We don’t have much time, we need to hurry up»

The transition to a sustainable economy needs to happen quickly.
That is one of the central messages of the SBA’s “Financial
Centre Voices” podcast, which was recorded during Building
Bridges Week in Geneva. SBA CEO Jörg Gasser, Catherine McGuinness
(Chair of the Policy and Resources Committee at the City of
London Corporation) and Christian Ossig (CEO of the Association
of German Banks) joined moderator Marie Zeh to discuss how banks
in Europe can contribute to increased sustainability.

What role are Europe’s financial centres playing in the
transition to a sustainable economy? This is the question
discussed in the latest “Financial Centre Voices” podcast
featuring SBA CEO Jörg Gasser along with Catherine McGuinness
(Chair of the Policy and Resources Committee at the City of
London Corporation) and Christian Ossig (CEO of the Association
of German Banks). The podcast was recorded during Building
Bridges Week. The discussion was held in English.


“What we need are framework conditions that speed up this
change,” said Jörg Gasser, adding that the UN’s COP26 climate
conference in Glasgow had made this clear. The Swiss economy and
its banking sector, he explained, are strong enough to rise to
the challenge, as shown by the study “Investment and financing
needed for Switzerland to reach net zero by 2050”. According to
Gasser, time is of the essence.


“We need to be focused on having a consistent set of rules,”
stressed Catherine McGuinness, who believes that a common basis
is needed for financial centres to have an impact, for example in
terms of preventing greenwashing. Christian Ossig, meanwhile,
addressed the role of the banks and how they view themselves: “We
banks want to be on the side of our clients, and we want
especially to enable our clients to have vital business models
also in five, ten or twenty years. Financing companies and
transition is very high on our agenda.”  


Building Bridges Week was held in Geneva from 29 November to 3
December and was heavily influenced by the UN’s COP26 climate
conference, which had taken place in Glasgow just a few weeks
before. As a founding partner of Building Bridges, the SBA hosted
a debate in Geneva on the topic “Transition financing: the role
of private sector financing in climate change mitigation”. The
event was recorded.  


The SBA’s “Financial Centre Voices” podcast offers first-hand
insights into key issues. Experts discuss hot topics in the Swiss
financial centre together with moderator Marie Zeh.