Montréal, Québec, June 12, 2018– Finance Montréal (FM) is pleased to announce it will integrate the Finance and Sustainability Initiative (FSI) into its activities to create the Finance and Sustainability Initiative of Finance Montréal (IFD-FM). Today, FSI is holding the last event of its 2017–2018 program, and FM’s involvement will begin immediately to prepare for the coming season that begins in the fall. FSI, which has been at the forefront of promoting responsible investment in Montréal since 2010, has developed a strong and dynamic network through its many activities. This new association with FM will make it possible to ensure the continuity of FSI’s mission, as well as bolster FM’s efforts to foster industry cooperation in the responsible investment sector.
FM’s involvement in the area of sustainable finance dates back many years, particularly through the responsible investment work group it launched in December 2016. Among other initiatives, the work group led the Declaration of Institutional Investors on Climate-Related Financial Risks, released in October 2017 and today signed by investors representing more than $1.2 trillion in assets under management.
Under the guidance of a steering committee comprised of key players in Montréal’s sustainable finance sector, FM will take over FSI’s flagship activities with confidence, including the FSI Competition for Best Sustainability Report, the FSI-PRI Scholarship for Best Research on Responsible Investment, the promotion of the Sustainable Investment Professional Certification, as well as the numerous lunch conferences and breakfast workshops.
“Since FSI was created in 2010, a great many dedicated volunteers made it their mission to facilitate the evolution of financial institutions’ ‘traditional’ investment practices to integrate more broadly environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, with a view to sustainable development. Eight years later, in the current global context, our mission is all the more relevant,” said Milla Craig, President of the Board at FSI. “With Finance Montréal, we are confident that the financial community will have all the resources it needs to streamline the integration of ESG criteria into investment analysis, selection and management, to make Montréal Canada’s leading sustainable finance accelerator and hub,” added Craig.
“FSI has played an important role in successfully transforming responsible investment from a peripheral consideration to a core factor in the investment sector,” said Louis Lévesque, Chief Executive Officer of Finance Montréal. “We are excited about taking the baton from FSI and working toward its vision of a world where investment decisions are always made with responsible investment in mind in order to promote sustainable development,” concluded Lévesque.
