In this episode, Lyndsey talks with Agnes Tai, Senior Partner of Yaozhi Asset Management International and an ESG thought leader. And Agnes has been a sustainable investor for many years.

Conversation of this episode is focusing on how government, local organizations and investors drive ESG movement in major Asian finance hubs.

Conversation Highlights

How Agnes started Sustainable Investment and latest career with Yaozhi Asset Management (1:30)

Different terms – responsible investing, sustainable investing, impact investing, ESG (3:30)

PRI signatories rapid increasing in Asian countries Growing Number of PRI signatories in different Asian countries (3:30) Sustainable investing growing trend (9:45)

How Asian countries governments drive ESG PRI signatories? Major Asian countries’ ESG engagement status (12:10) Transparency and disclosure are the key for effective ESG enforcement (14:20) Asian countries are racing for leading roles in ESG and sustainable reporting (16:00)

How Asian asset management firms influence ESG performance? (17:35) Long-term value creating for portfolio companies (18:10) Japan Case study (JPIF) started sustainable pension fund in 2016

How Asian investors weight financial return vs. ESG performance? (25:30) MSCI China ESG Index show good ESG performance leads to high financial return (26:10) HK Fund manager code of conduct regulation in the next 12 months (28:00) MSCI new reports focus on E and S factors (29:00)

Guest Contact Information

Agnes K Y Tai

https://www.linkedin.com/in/agnestai/