Raft of Robeco departures help Credit Suisse build ESG strategy

Credit Suisse has expanded its ESG team in a bid to drive ESG integration across the bank and propel the Swiss lender's ambition to be a leader in sustainability.

Michael van der Meer, Angela Saxby, Sina Dorner-Müller and Timothy Oehmigen are leaving Robeco to join Credit Suisse's ESG specialist team, with Karim Sayyad also joining from Nordea.

The five will join the bank's sustainability strategy, advisory and finance (SSAF) function, based in Zurich, and will report into Daniel Wild, global head of ESG Strategy.

Leading the team will be van der Meer, who will assume the role of head of ESG analysis.

An experienced sustainable investments expert, he was most recently head of sustainable investment research at Robeco.

In their new roles, they will join the existing team of specialists who are responsible for the development and oversight of Credit Suisse's ESG investment framework and have built the ESG Hub.

In addition, they will advance and consolidate Credit Suisse's ESG practices and procedures, support an integrated ESG house view by industry sector, provide opinions on single securities, perform sector sustainability analyses and facilitate fundamental integration of relevant sustainability insights in research outcomes and investment cases.

Wild said: "I am delighted to welcome such a well-respected, talented and experienced group of individuals to our team. As ESG continues to grow in significance in our industry and across the world, Michael, Angela, Sina, Timothy and Karim will help to offer our clients a further enhanced sustainability service and position Credit Suisse as a leader in the area of ESG policy, analysis and expertise."

Marisa Drew, chief sustainability officer and global head of SSAF at Credit Suisse, added: "These appointments are a key step in augmenting our ESG expertise and expanding our sustainability offering for clients. This investment in our ESG centre of knowledge will help us to scale our activities across the bank, ultimately furthering our ambition to be a sustainability leader."

Credit Suisse enhanced its commitment to sustainability and impact in July 2020 by establishing a new executive board level corporate function, sustainability, research and investment solutions (SRI), led by Lydie Hudson.

SRI is dedicated to supporting Credit Suisse's divisions in delivering innovative products, content and solutions to wealth management, corporate and institutional clients and was created to accelerate the bank-wide evolution and response required to support the changing needs of clients, regulators and the markets in which the bank operates.

This article was first published by our sister title Investment Week