We spoke with four experts to explore how AI use is likely to evolve in the financial industry in the years to come.
Financial institutions (FIs) continue to expect cybersecurity and data disputes in the coming year, along with ESG disputes. We will see growth in climate-related litigation against financial institutions from NGOs and activist shareholders. Until recently, claims have focused on the disclosure of climate-related information. However, the trend is now moving to scrutiny of what prudent financial management means. For example, what fiduciary duties are owed when acting as a financial advisor in investment planning or M&A transactions?
On 15 February 2023, the European Parliament adopted the regulatory reform of the European long-term investments funds (ELTIFs) regulation to make these ELTIFs more attractive to asset managers and retail investors by facilitating their investments in the real economy and encouraging private capital flows toward more environmentally sustainable investments.
Combating global greenhouse emissions and implementing the transition to net-zero requires unprecedented financial investment. Financial institutions are critical players because of their role in allocating capital and ability to act as a catalyst to achieve better ESG outcomes in society generally.
A number of factors are driving up the incidence of climate related litigation and enforcement which has been most marked in North America but other regions are now catching up. Financial institutions given their critical place in financing economic activity are increasingly the focus of action. Financial institutions are well advised to prepare for and mitigate the risk, for example, from reviewing their corporate strategies around climate change and carbon reduction to taking note of regulators’ expectations.
Our series, Finding Balance, maps the environment financial institutions must navigate to thrive in the post-pandemic global market. Starting in 2020 and finishing this year, we looked across our subsectors — at banking and insurance, financial sponsors, as well as financial infrastructure and payment providers — and re-evaluated the potential impact of the major global drivers of change in financial services such as ESG and digital transformation. The series also considers the risks to and pressures on financial institutions presented by increasing corporate indebtedness, the rise of alternative finance, and increasing regulatory scrutiny originating from the 2008 financial crisis.