Transformation
volatile in pricing, and for which there is no long trail of historic data. Another is regulatory. “Who is sitting behind these currencies and who is buying them and selling them?” he asks. Despite those concerns, Field says the rise of crypto currencies is part of an even bigger picture: the growing acceptance of the value residing in digital assets more generally. “You can buy a digital token that represents a share in a house in Los Angeles, for example,” he says. “And Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter, recently sold off the first tweet that was ever sent, for more than $2.9m, in the form of an NFT [non-fungible token]. With these kinds of assets now on the market, who is going to provide the expert valuation that would say: we can lend against that?”
the Guernsey Financial Services Commission adopting a thorough green approach and stating its own aim to become one of the first carbon-neutral regulators in the world.” At Jersey Finance, Amy Bryant expresses similar sentiments. “Sustainable finance is not a trend, it’s here to stay. It’s not something you have a separate conversation on, it’s part and parcel of running a business.” What this means in practice, she says, is that the financial sector will have to focus on developing products and services that support the transition to a greener
CLIMATE CHANGE AND ETHICS Climate change is arguably the biggest single challenge the world faces, and ESG (environmental, social and governance) considerations have become a key factor driving investment across business. So how will these issues affect financial services going forward? “Previously, an ESG policy might have been a nice-to-have, but it’s now a core component of business objectives and strategies,” says Helen Wyatt, Corporate Partner at law firm Mourant. “Society expects it, and regulators are focused on it. In Guernsey, the spotlight has been on environmental issues, with
www.blglobal.co.uk
Sustainable finance is not a trend, it’s here to stay, it’s part and parcel of running a business
future. That’s partly a question of meeting the needs of investors, and partly one of ensuring from a corporate point of view that the Jersey finance community has an ethos and approach that is aligned with the principles of ESG. The impetus for sustainable finance will continue to come from a range of directions – civil society’s climate awareness, global political initiatives and investors, to name but three. But one significant change will be the transfer of wealth to the next generation, believes Bryant. “We’re at a stage where we are seeing a massive transfer from the founder generation to millennials and gen-X-ers,” she says, “and that’s linked to a change in investor preference around their values.” As for another part of this picture, Field says that putting purpose before profit will be a hallmark of business going forward, and financial services firms will have to accommodate that. This will particularly be a hallmark of innovation in the sector and new businesses coming through, he says. “I think there’ll be much less of a focus on pure profit or money-making than there has been in the past.”
POST-PANDEMIC EXPECTATIONS It’s early days when it comes to talking about the post-pandemic world, but it seems inevitable that Covid-19 will have longlasting repercussions for financial services businesses. The most obvious of these, perhaps, is how banks and other institutions will expect their people to work, with an increased focus on work-life balance. “The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way we interact, forcing many financial services businesses to equip their workforces for working from home,” says Helen Wyatt at Mourant. “The pandemic has also – quite rightly – refocused the corporate lens, and wellbeing is far higher up the agenda.” The fact that you can do the work from anywhere could have an unexpected consequence in the shape of a more diverse workforce, adds Bryant. “If workplaces are more accommodating in terms of where people can do their work and the hours they work, that might attract talent that couldn’t previously participate in the workforce because it couldn’t do a nine-tofive day in the office,” she says. From a customer perspective, Field believes the pandemic has accelerated a trend towards virtual engagement. Customers will be less expectant of having personal relationships with their financial institutions, and those institutions will have to increasingly cultivate those relationships – and find new customers – by harnessing technology. n
May-July 2021 77