The Minister of Economy together with the President of the Central Bank of Argentina (BCRA), the head of the National Securities Commission (CNV) and the National Superintendent of Insurance (SSN) signed a joint declaration aimed at promoting the development of sustainable finance in Argentina.

The agreement intends to create the conditions for the financial sector to attract public and private investments that contribute to achieving economic, environmental and social objectives, within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and, at the same time, to respond to climate change through the financing of mitigation and adaptation strategies.

The joint statement by banking, insurance and capital markets regulators is part of the work of the Sustainable Finance Technical Roundtable created in 2020 and led by the Ministry of Economy, with support from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

The minister declared “we have the challenge of designing and promoting economic and financial instruments that facilitate public and private investments towards initiatives that promote sustainable development, because productive transformation for environmental sustainability is not only a question of development, but also of macroeconomic stability”.

In this sense, the joint statement seeks to promote an adequate incorporation, management, regulation and supervision of the risks associated with social, environmental and governance (ESG) criteria, including climate-related financial and balance of payments risks, with the aim of designing policies that contribute to the strengthening, development and stability of the Argentinean financial system.

The parties also undertook to develop a joint long-term agenda to enable the institutions under their supervision to develop the necessary capacities to identify, manage and incorporate ESG criteria into their business strategies.

In this line, progress will be made in assessing potential risks to the stability of the financial system and the balance of payments, linked to ESG factors, including financial risks associated with climate and the transition to a low-carbon economy and, if necessary, supervisory and/or regulatory actions will be defined to mitigate their impacts.

The agreement signed will also contribute to the design of a National Strategy for the development of sustainable finance in Argentina, and to continue to raise awareness and sensitise the different actors in the Argentine banking, insurance and capital market sectors on these risks so that the entities under their regulation and supervision begin to identify them, manage them properly and incorporate them into their credit and investment decisions.