Credit Suisse has made five new appointments to its environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy team to drive integration across the bank and drive its ambition to be a “leader in sustainability”.
Michael van der Meer, Angela Saxby, Sina Dorner-Müller and Timothy Oehmigen will join from Dutch asset management firm Robeco where they were all working in the sustainability investing research team, while Karim Sayyad joins from Finnish bank Nordea, where she worked as a research analyst in group sustainable finance.
Van der Meer joins as head of ESG analysis and will lead the ESG strategy team. At Robeco, he most recently head of sustainable investment research.
All the new hires will be based in Zurich as part of the bank's sustainability strategy, advisory and finance function (SSAF). This includes advancing Credit Suisse's ESG practices and procedures, supporting an integrated ESG house view by industry sector, providing opinions on single securities, performing sector sustainability analyses, and facilitating relevant sustainability insights in research outcomes and investment cases.
The group will join the existing team of specialists who are responsible for the development and oversight of Credit Suisse's ESG investment framework and report to Daniel Wild, the global head of ESG strategy.
"I am delighted to welcome such a well-respected, talented and experienced group of individuals to our team,” says Wild.
“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, adds: "These appointments are a key step in augmenting our ESG expertise and expanding our sustainability offering for clients. This investment in our ESG center of knowledge will help us to scale our activities across the bank, ultimately furthering our ambition to be a sustainability leader."
Credit Suisse established a new executive board level corporate function in July 2020 in order to enhance its commitment to sustainability.
The sustainability, research and investment solutions, led by Lydie Hudson, supports Credit Suisse's divisions in delivering innovative products, content and solutions to wealth management, corporate and institutional clients.