Treasury Strategy & Transformation
Published  6 MIN READ
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Moving Sustainability to the Heart of Corporate Culture

Moving Sustainability to the Heart of Corporate Culture

by Dick Oskam, Global Head of Sales for Transaction Services and Armand Ferreira, Director Sustainable Finance, ING

Sustainability has been on the corporate agenda for many years, but we are now reaching an inflection point, driven by environmentally and socially conscious corporations, consumers and banks, such as ING. While some companies have treated sustainability as a regulatory and corporate reporting requirement in the past, it is now becoming a crucial component of the political, economic and social agenda and therefore central to business strategy and delivery. ING has been an industry leader in placing sustainability at the heart of our business, which in turn shapes our strategy, approach to financing, solutions and service delivery.

As sustainability becomes central to corporate culture, it will increasingly become a criterion for corporate treasurers when selecting their partner bank. As a result, ING’s value proposition as a partner bank, not only for transaction and financing services, but as a strategic partner that demonstrates shared corporate objectives becomes increasingly compelling.

A partner for achieving sustainability

Financial services have an important role to play creating a healthy and sustainable world, not just by trying to be more sustainable ourselves by reducing our direct footprint, but also in the choices we make in lending, investing and the services we offer to customers. For example, we were an early signatory to industry-wide initiatives such as the Equator Principles, but we are committed to encouraging and promoting the sustainability agenda across our business. From a financing perspective, for example, this includes prioritising businesses and projects that deliver environmental and social improvements.