Blowing the whistle on ESG

Behind the Money

Topher Forhecz

Markets, Investing, News, Banking, Finance, Business, Business News, Crypto

4.4 • 350 Ratings

🗓️ 8 June 2022

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Last week authorities raided the offices of Germany’s top asset manager DWS Group and its majority owner Deutsche Bank. The raid was spurred by allegations of greenwashing. That is, that DWS had made misleading claims about how sustainable or “green” some of its financial products were. DWS says it denies those allegations and has cooperated with regulators and authorities, but this move has prompted a larger reckoning throughout the financial industry.

At the centre of much of this is former DWS sustainability officer Desiree Fixler. In this week’s episode we hear from the whistleblower herself, and explore her allegations about her time at DWS. The FT’s Patrick Temple-West also explains what this moment means for the future of environmental, social and governance or ESG investing.

For further reading:

German police raid DWS and Deutsche Bank over greenwashing allegations

DWS chief resigns after police raid over greenwashing claims

Deutsche banker takes over asset manager in the eye of an ESG storm

Aggregate ESG confusion

On Twitter, follow Patrick Temple-West (@Temple_West)

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Am I missing anything? Is this the right decision?
0:02.0	Can I show this data?
0:04.0	Am I too late?
0:05.0	Find clarity in your investment decision-making.
0:08.0	Manage your portfolio for sustainable growth
0:11.0	and regulatory alignment
0:12.0	with the ultimate blend of powerful AI and
0:14.6	industry expertise.
0:16.5	Reduce risk, meet your sustainability goals and push the boundaries of possibilities based on
0:21.1	facts, not opinions.
0:23.0	Clarity AI scaling human decisions through tech.
0:26.6	Visit clarity.
0:28.0	AI and take action today.
0:29.5	In Desiree Fixler's short time at Germany's top asset manager,
0:36.8	DWS Group, she made a number of presentations
0:41.2	to the CEO and members of the board. But the last one she made in February
0:47.2	2021 sticks out. She says the stakes felt particularly high.
0:55.0	And by this time I was a lot more aggressive
0:59.0	because we were under the gun.
1:02.0	As group sustainability officer, because we were under the gun.
1:02.6	As group sustainability officer,
1:05.0	Desiree was in charge of editing part of the company's annual report.
	...

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