EFG Hermes, the leading financial services corporation in Frontier Emerging Markets (FEM), announced that it has been named Sustainability Champion by the Egyptian Financial Regulatory Authority’s (FRA).
FRA has launched its first publication recognizing players championing sustainable development in the non-bank financial service industry.
“We are thrilled to have been recognized for our long-standing, consistent efforts to build out a sustainable business model that integrates ESG principles into every facet of our operations,” said EFG Hermes Group CEO Karim Awad. “ESG has come into increased focus in recent years as investors look to build responsible portfolios, but sustainability has and continues to be one of the key guiding pillars of our strategy. This recognition by the FRA in Egypt is a testament to the years of hard work that the team has put in to build up to where we are now. It is also a great testament to our regulator and its increasing focus on the importance that such metrics should play in today’s investment space not just globally but in our local market as well.”
Articulating its social purpose in 2014, EFG Hermes has since made sustainability a fundamental strategy plank when it comes to its vision for the future. It aligns its operations with the principles of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in addition to Egypt’s path toward inclusive development as outlined in the nation’s Vision 2030. These commitments form the basis by which the Firm approaches citizenship, allowing it to take measured and consistent steps to build out integrated sustainable business operations and initiatives that drive value for all stakeholders.
The Firm manages a large responsible investment portfolio that includes initiatives that directly feed into SDGs, in areas ranging from education and clean energy to microfinance, and financial and digital inclusion and intermediation. As such, EFG Hermes became the first in Egypt to sign the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI) in 2018, bookending a longstanding commitment toward developing a sustainable global financial ecosystem. In October 2020, EFG Hermes was included among 30 regional companies in Refinitiv and the Arab Federation of Exchanges’ Low Carbon Select Index, which provides investors with access to low-carbon equities in the MENA region.
“It is our honor to be recognized by the FRA for our growing ESG-driven strategy. As the first UNPRI signatory in Egypt and as a leading financial services provider in FEM, we have a responsibility to advocate for sustainable solutions that are becoming increasingly essential for collective industrial, societal, and environmental progress. It is also our belief that cross-industry collaboration and public-private partnerships between regulators and the non-banking financial sector have become key drivers for fintech innovation, financial inclusion and the advancement of the SDGs,” added Hanaa Helmy, CEO of the EFG Hermes Foundation and Head of CSR.
In 2020, the Firm began laying the groundwork to implement frameworks that will see it integrate ESG principles in decision making processes, investment strategies, client advisory solutions, and even research products in the year ahead. As responsible investing becomes a strategic imperative the world over, the Firm will work to continue making concerted and focused efforts toward growing its ESG ecosystem, identifying risks and impacts the business has on its stakeholders, as well as measuring and mitigating those impacts to drive shared value.
