ESG Challenge: Joe Pigg, American Bankers' Association Interview — Transcript

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1. 0:02okay awesome okay can you please
2. 0:05introduce yourself in your work with the
3. 0:07ESG working group hi I'm uh Joseph Pig
4. 0:11I'm a senior vice president with the
5. 0:13American Bankers
6. 0:14Association uh and uh yeah the ESG
7. 0:17working group is uh in my portfolio of
8. 0:21work
9. 0:23um the goal of the ESG working group is
10. 0:27to uh provide a forum for engagement and
11. 0:31uh information sharing both among and
12. 0:35with uh our members on uh importance uh
13. 0:39of of ESG how to engage how not to
14. 0:43engage um and uh uh and and really to
15. 0:49discuss um at a on a peer-to-peer
16. 0:53level um the emerging issues or um
17. 0:57emerging challenges for for banks in
18. 0:59this space
19. 1:00awesome cool and can you share a little
20. 1:03bit more what is the American Bankers
21. 1:06Association ABA and what role does it
22. 1:08play in representing the banking
23. 1:11industry sure uh the American Bankers
24. 1:14Association is uh the largest uh trade
25. 1:18Association for the banking industry our
26. 1:21members uh comprise the entire range of
27. 1:24banks in the country from the largest U
28. 1:28uh money center Banks and and
29. 1:30internationally active Banks down to the
30. 1:32very smallest Community Banks uh and
31. 1:35every every Bank in between or every
32. 1:38type of Bank in between um from
33. 1:41regionals to uh to midsize uh again uh
34. 1:45the full full spectrum and we are an
35. 1:48advocacy organization uh representing
36. 1:51the interests of those members uh to uh
37. 1:54members of Congress and the federal
38. 1:57agencies uh we're we lobby at the
39. 1:59Federal
40. 2:00level gotcha cool and can you provide
41. 2:04some background on why the ESG working
42. 2:06group was
43. 2:07formed uh sure uh we identified ESG as
44. 2:12an emerging issue a number of years ago
45. 2:15and um so uh the banking industry had
46. 2:20not uh focused specifically on that
47. 2:24topic although um with
48. 2:28ESG um it's it's really as you look at
49. 2:31it it's you know it's a very expansive
50. 2:34area and it it has uh tentacles into
51. 2:37everything but we had did not have a
52. 2:40specific focus on it up until probably
53. 2:42about four years ago um and so it's
54. 2:46really uh we formed the ESG working
55. 2:48group as kind of a an umbrella to bring
56. 2:51all of those together and give Focus to
57. 2:54it and and to provide that uh uh
58. 2:57information sharing and uh uh and
59. 3:00peer-to-peer discussion that I discussed
60. 3:02earlier with our members uh it's it's
61. 3:06one of those things where um it's often
62. 3:09members think of it as a relatively new
63. 3:12issue but as you get into it they
64. 3:15realize or we all realize that a lot of
65. 3:18this is things that that have been
66. 3:20embedded in banking practices for years
67. 3:23it's just that it's never had a sort of
68. 3:26unique Focus onto itself awesome cool
69. 3:30okay and you mentioned and this is known
70. 3:33that one of the key functions of the ESG
71. 3:35working group is advocacy so why does it
72. 3:38make sense for this advocacy to come
73. 3:40from a trade Association rather than
74. 3:43from Individual
75. 3:44Banks well it it actually comes from
76. 3:47both we have members that will engage in
77. 3:49ESG advocacy um on an individual basis
78. 3:54uh but like really any other issue um
79. 3:57you know there's strengthen numbers and
80. 4:00uh and ABA represents the uh if you will
81. 4:03the consensus view of our members uh on
82. 4:07on ESG or you know take your your pick
83. 4:10of issues tax Finance uh
84. 4:14regulation um and so it's it's a way to
85. 4:17amplify members views it's a way to
86. 4:20discuss issues that might be new to some
87. 4:24members uh to and and to help educate
88. 4:28them so it's it's uh it's more than just
89. 4:31advocacy but uh you know all of that
90. 4:35plays into our advocacy we want to uh
91. 4:38make sure our advoc advocacy is coming
92. 4:41from um an informed and thoughtful
93. 4:44consensus among
94. 4:46members what is the working group's
95. 4:49policy on a transition to a lowc carbon
96. 4:51economy and how do you create consensus
97. 4:54among
98. 4:55members yeah this is an important
99. 4:57question um
100. 5:00we we are a membership organization so
101. 5:03we reflect the view of our views of our
102. 5:05members um we don't um we don't dictate
103. 5:09to them what policies are it's quite
104. 5:12quite the reverse um we work to achieve
105. 5:17consensus but really our um the the
106. 5:20closest I can come to a direct answer to
107. 5:23that is our
108. 5:25advocacy is premised on a free market
109. 5:28approach it's let Banks be Banks and you
110. 5:31will see that among Banks there is a a
111. 5:34wide range of of approaches to U uh an
112. 5:38energy
113. 5:39transition um that some are very
114. 5:42aggressively seeking that others uh less
115. 5:46so um we believe that there is uh a
116. 5:52great deal of opportunity for banks in
117. 5:54that space and so we want to make sure
118. 5:56that our advocacy ensures that banks are
119. 5:58able to
120. 6:00um take advantage of those
121. 6:02opportunities uh but we're not uh in the
122. 6:07uh in the business of forcing them to
123. 6:10you know go take any particular path
124. 6:12it's to uh give them the tools and the
125. 6:16ability to um to choose the path that
126. 6:19they they most want to uh pursue and
127. 6:22that makes the most sense for their
128. 6:24customers their communities um and and
129. 6:27their business plan
130. 6:30okay and then the last question what can
131. 6:33you share about aba's engagement with
132. 6:36policy makers and elected officials in
133. 6:39both the anti-g camp and in the camp of
134. 6:42increasing
135. 6:43regulation and what arguments if any
136. 6:46resonate with both
137. 6:48groups um well we do engage uh with both
138. 6:53both camps um and again um our our
139. 6:57approach is a pro- free market uh let
140. 7:00Banks be Banks approach so we tend to
141. 7:04push back strongly on um the kinds of
142. 7:08anti-g efforts that would constrain
143. 7:10Banks or Force Banks to um to lend to
144. 7:14certain businesses or not to lend to
145. 7:16certain businesses um you know we think
146. 7:19that if you want to regulate fossil
147. 7:22fuels do that directly don't do it
148. 7:24through uh through the banks don't make
149. 7:26us The
150. 7:27Regulators um similarly with uh you know
151. 7:31the pro regulation
152. 7:33standpoint um I guess our our approach
153. 7:36is is very much along the lines of all
154. 7:39things regulation that if it's a
155. 7:42regulation that makes sense that is for
156. 7:46uh a logical outcome that that uh you
157. 7:49know safety enhances safety and
158. 7:51soundness of the industry uh enhances
159. 7:54consumer protection those are legitimate
160. 7:56uh areas of Regulation but if you're
161. 7:58using regulation purely to achieve a uh
162. 8:03another outcome um to say eliminate
163. 8:06fossil fuels so by imposing incredibly
164. 8:11high levels of Regulation we think
165. 8:13that's a misuse and we push back against
166. 8:15that as well um and so it's it's again
167. 8:18um to best represent the uh uh the
168. 8:24ability of our members to engage in uh
169. 8:27business uh you know legitimately and
170. 8:30safely and soundly uh according to their
171. 8:33business plan awesome okay that is all I
172. 8:38had thanks so much sure that was easy