Mark Manning, Technical Specialist in Sustainable Finance and Stewardship, FCA, delivers his keynote.

Trust and credibility are key to the future of the global financial markets, said a representative of the Financial Conduct Authority, the UK financial regulator.

"Building trust is a multi-dimensional exercise.”

Day two of Fund Operator Summit Europe, last week in London, featured a rousing keynote on “Addressing the tide of greenwashing – what can fund operators expect from regulatory attempts to make managers responsible for their ESG statements” from the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Mark Manning, a Technical Specialist in Sustainable Finance and Stewardship. 

“Building trust is a multi-dimensional exercise,” Manning said when discussing the prevalence of greenwashing and the steps that the FCA was taking to quash the phenomenon.

"Financial services can be a force for good, but there is risk of harm if the market develops and offers sustainable finance products without adequate guardrails.”

He added that the British regulatory body took greenwashing seriously, finding it a credible cause for concern and a priority area of focus in the FCA’s ESG strategy. “Financial services can be a force for good, but there is risk of harm if the market develops and offers sustainable finance products without adequate guardrails," he said.

One of the biggest issues was how greenwashing is affecting investors' faith in the industry. “We’re currently dealing with a trust gap and knowledge deficit,” Manning said about current sustainable investment products. He added that fund operators need to work on cultivating trust with consumers and that the FCA’s recent consultation proposals aimed to help them do this.

Manning added that the FCA aimed to finalise its proposals on sustainable investment labels and sustainability disclosures in 2023, and that there would be further work to build out the regime over time.

You can see more of Manning’s thoughts on the subject here.

 

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