[Music]
I believe that climate change is shaping
so I’m sure when you heard the
introduction that I’m here to talk about
finance and thank you you had certain
thoughts certain words usually when you
talk about banking where you think about
banking certain words of thoughts come
to mind and often it’s not all heart
warming right especially I was reading
the news about what’s going on in the
banking industry here in Ghana and I’m
sure my therefore said to you that I’m
cuz you can save the world you would say
right you would probably question that
possibility but I do believe that
bankers even if they didn’t mean to
there’s a well-known economist called
Adam Smith and Adam Smith came up with
this theory around self-interest that he
said that it’s not of the benevolence of
bankers that we should expect our meals
but out of their own self-interest and
indeed banking is one of the most
capitalistic of sectors bankers don’t
wake up every day to save the world we
have the experience and examples of that
the global financial crisis for example
research has found that the global
financial crisis happened it started or
catalyzed was it was analyzed in the US
but it was not just one institution on
one posture
it started the crisis it was several
institutions related and unrelated the
spark started in the US and it rippled
around the world and then you wonder why
why did it why was it so pervasive it’s
because the culture of banking is a lot
driven my self-interest so how can this
self-interest even official as Adam
Smith says well I was one of the
millions of people who benefited from
self-interest my sisters and I were able
to get into our first home because of
selfish
at the time we were living in the US but
of course a few months later the bubble
burst lives were devastated financial
system was never the same again so you
would argue that as much as
self-interest had a positive outcome it
also had a negative of them so there we
learn another important lesson that Adam
Smith gave us then he said that banking
is actually good but it’s only good as
long as it is supporting productivity it
is only good as long as it’s helping to
create value for economies in our
societies that is when banking is good
and if you think about Africa and the
future of our continent I would argue
that the most productive place that
bankers can be and spent time and inter
mediate this is issue of climate change
climate change is the biggest challenge
that we are facing as a continent it
compounds all the challenges that we
face be it poverty disease youth
unemployment climate change compounds
all these issues
it also has secondary effects around our
literacy needs our education and when
you think about the lack of resources
that we face with under extreme weather
events you can see that it also causes
social unrest it causes political unrest
and when resources are scarce we
obviously have corruption so climate
change is a beast that is eating at our
continent so it’s no wonder policymakers
within the states the various states and
also the development community are
coming together to find policy net ways
to address this issue of climate change
in Africa many of our economies our
reliance on agriculture which is why
climate change is so pervasive if you
look at Zambia Ghana Kenya our economies
lose at least 1 to 2 percent of our
gross domestic product every year
because of extreme weather
that equates to billions of dollars
worth of economic analysis so then you
have to ask if we are losing this much
and governments are trying their best to
help us mitigate adapt to climate change
why are we still at risk well the reason
is because it will cost billions of
dollars worth of investment to change
our economic systems you want to be
green economies so that’s where
sustainable finance comes in that’s
where the financial sector now can
really come in and save the day because
governments can not finance the change
of the economy Kannamma systems and
sustainable finance when I say that it
doesn’t mean I’m not talking about
bankers wearing branded t-shirts
planting trees I’m not talking about
bankers on see sponsoring a walk to go
sink of or hole in some rural community
I’m talking about the allocation of
capital towards the three areas of
sustainability is the finance creating
economic and an economic value is not
just profits that banks make that’s
financial return economic value is how
do you contribute to the long-term
growth of an economy is finance helping
social value granted you’re giving loans
to individuals in corporations when you
lend to individuals in might prosper for
one week one month one year five years
but what happens in ten years time
have you helped create long-term
economic opportunities for these
individuals and what about the pie are
you growing the pie are you still
lending to the same people are you
creating long-term social value are you
helping women and youth and the final
dimension of sustainable finance is
environmental are you creating positive
environmental impact so those are the
three areas that sustainable finance
case and it’s the areas that I’m very
passionate about but it’s not that easy
to say that finance can all of a sudden
become sustainable finance because it
will take a redesigning of its
Touche banks have to redesign their
business models you have to redesign how
they operate we’ve heard about
blockchain alia banks also have to
leverage on technology so as to reach
scale and generate efficiencies but the
most important thing and this is the
crux of the matter
anchors have to change their mindset
they have to think different
you have to feel differently and that is
not easy culture change is not easy I
mean we all know that bankers are
motivated by making money so how do you
make a banker decide that I’m gonna
finance the next hydro plan it might be
easier to finance another area but I’m
gonna do this because I know it’s gonna
help I’m gonna finance climate smart
cocoa farming I know I might not really
understand it it might take me longer to
close the deal but I’m gonna do this
because it’s gonna help the economy
it’s gonna help the society that is a
mindset shift seeing that you can still
make money but make money by doing the
right thing so how do you do that how do
you help anchors see this and I call
this the show me the money principle of
sustainable finance we have to be able
to let bankers see that you can actually
make money by doing the right thing and
they will do it there is green in green
and they have to see it so how do you do
that how do you leverage on the
opportunities within climate change the
opportunities within the green economy
well I mentioned before it will take
billions of dollars to re-engineer
economic systems to be sustainable and a
number of institutions are seeing this
opportunity and one of them is the
development finance world they can see
that by leveraging on the economic
opportunities they are able to make
money and make an impact and one of the
instruments that development finance
institutions are using the climate proof
the economy is green boats green bonds
are an instrument that very much like
owns if you know what how phones work
once are a debt
that issuable race to get capital to
invest so a green point it’s very much
like a regular college but the money
that the institution raises goes towards
the environmental area remember we
talked about the environmental value
site and the global green bond market
right now by the end of this year is
expected to hit two hundred and fifty
billion dollars worth of assets that is
two hundred and fifty billion dollars
worth of money that’s looking for green
opportunities and therefore Africa has a
fantastic opportunity the leverage on
this now why would an institution want
to raise a green point well they can tap
all this money that’s available why
would an investor want to buy a green
point I’m sure we’ve all heard about the
Paris agreement the Paris agreement is
basically an agreement between states
that they will either allocate or invest
or deploy capital to help mitigate
climate change so the developed world to
make commitments to the developing world
because we all know the developed world
is the reason why we are having climate
change in the first place because
they’ve been at it longer so they
created the problem but what they are
trying to do now is allocate capital so
the developing world is not as badly
affected by climate change and therefore
there’s billions of dollars worth of
commitments that need to be deployed
that needs to be mobilized and this is
where the issuer’s of green bonds for
example can tap and leverage so in a way
green bonds and sustainable finance is
like an invisible hand that it’s helping
Africa to be sustainable and helping
make sure that our communities can
survive for the long term now I’m here
in Ghana and I love Ghana the first time
I came was lastly I had the opportunity
to come and train and talk to about 20
bankers and I thought it was fantastic
because first of all I’ve always wanted
to come to Canada
I’m a Pan Africanist and passionate
about Africa and this is I think this is
the birth place right so you all started
our freedom so I love to come
and I’ve really read a lot of common
crewman’s work and I really respected
what he was trying to do and I think you
know by a large extent we are living his
vision isn’t it we are going to where he
had the vision so when I was here
talking with the bankers I thought it
was fantastic bag out of the about 20 of
them ten of them were just as passionate
as I was about sustainable finance and
these are corporate bankers who do big
deals and I thought this is fantastic
because here is a group of people who
are making money they are getting great
bonuses but guess what they also want to
do it the right way and then it made me
think how many bankers do we need to
change the global financial system to be
sustainable to make a sustainable impact
well in Kenya we started with one so I
was the one in 2012 I realized that I’m
king can be better I’m King can do more
so I spoke with the CEO Kenya Bankers
Association and he also agreed that
banking should not only be about
self-interest so we were too and then we
were three because we spoke with the
chairman of Kenya Bankers Association
and he also said but he added he said
you know what if we as bankers are to be
relevant into the future if barking is
to be viable and not this be displaced
by FinTech or blockchain we are to be
relevant into the future it can’t just
be about making money so we were three
and six years later we have reached out
to 28,000 bankers with this idea that
banking can be better
now not all 28,000 are gonna go out and
see the world right but maybe one or two
for sure and when I started this work I
didn’t expect that I would inspire
people in Ghana in Tanzania in UAE in
Mongolia in Singapore and Peru and I’ve
been invited to all these places to talk
about sustainable finance which is why
I’m always happy when I’m invited to
speak
it’s because in this room there’s a
future banker for there is a banker yeah
and you will make the right decisions
because you realize you know what there
is greed and greed you can make money
and do it the right way so when we talk
about designing the future what is the
future of finance to me the future of
finance is sustainable finance I
remember when I first started thinking
about this work I was working at a place
and one of my bosses at the time was
like knurl you are wasting my time this
is not a conversation I want to have and
I did let his words discourage me
because I believed that no fine King is
more about it’s more than more than
self-interest and I’m glad he did not
stop me from there because can you
imagine I would not have reached 20,000
people with this story and I honestly
believe the future of finance is not for
people like that it’s not for those
old-school bankers were just chasing
bonuses the future of finance is for
[Music] [Applause]
I believe that climate change is shaping
so I’m sure when you heard the
introduction that I’m here to talk about
finance and thank you you had certain
thoughts certain words usually when you
talk about banking where you think about
banking certain words of thoughts come
to mind and often it’s not all heart
warming right especially I was reading
the news about what’s going on in the
banking industry here in Ghana and I’m
sure my therefore said to you that I’m
cuz you can save the world you would say
right you would probably question that
possibility but I do believe that
bankers even if they didn’t mean to
there’s a well-known economist called
Adam Smith and Adam Smith came up with
this theory around self-interest that he
said that it’s not of the benevolence of
bankers that we should expect our meals
but out of their own self-interest and
indeed banking is one of the most
capitalistic of sectors bankers don’t
wake up every day to save the world we
have the experience and examples of that
the global financial crisis for example
research has found that the global
financial crisis happened it started or
catalyzed was it was analyzed in the US
but it was not just one institution on
one posture
it started the crisis it was several
institutions related and unrelated the
spark started in the US and it rippled
around the world and then you wonder why
why did it why was it so pervasive it’s
because the culture of banking is a lot
driven my self-interest so how can this
self-interest even official as Adam
Smith says well I was one of the
millions of people who benefited from
self-interest my sisters and I were able
to get into our first home because of
selfish
at the time we were living in the US but
of course a few months later the bubble
burst lives were devastated financial
system was never the same again so you
would argue that as much as
self-interest had a positive outcome it
also had a negative of them so there we
learn another important lesson that Adam
Smith gave us then he said that banking
is actually good but it’s only good as
long as it is supporting productivity it
is only good as long as it’s helping to
create value for economies in our
societies that is when banking is good
and if you think about Africa and the
future of our continent I would argue
that the most productive place that
bankers can be and spent time and inter
mediate this is issue of climate change
climate change is the biggest challenge
that we are facing as a continent it
compounds all the challenges that we
face be it poverty disease youth
unemployment climate change compounds
all these issues
it also has secondary effects around our
literacy needs our education and when
you think about the lack of resources
that we face with under extreme weather
events you can see that it also causes
social unrest it causes political unrest
and when resources are scarce we
obviously have corruption so climate
change is a beast that is eating at our
continent so it’s no wonder policymakers
within the states the various states and
also the development community are
coming together to find policy net ways
to address this issue of climate change
in Africa many of our economies our
reliance on agriculture which is why
climate change is so pervasive if you
look at Zambia Ghana Kenya our economies
lose at least 1 to 2 percent of our
gross domestic product every year
because of extreme weather
that equates to billions of dollars
worth of economic analysis so then you
have to ask if we are losing this much
and governments are trying their best to
help us mitigate adapt to climate change
why are we still at risk well the reason
is because it will cost billions of
dollars worth of investment to change
our economic systems you want to be
green economies so that’s where
sustainable finance comes in that’s
where the financial sector now can
really come in and save the day because
governments can not finance the change
of the economy Kannamma systems and
sustainable finance when I say that it
doesn’t mean I’m not talking about
bankers wearing branded t-shirts
planting trees I’m not talking about
bankers on see sponsoring a walk to go
sink of or hole in some rural community
I’m talking about the allocation of
capital towards the three areas of
sustainability is the finance creating
economic and an economic value is not
just profits that banks make that’s
financial return economic value is how
do you contribute to the long-term
growth of an economy is finance helping
social value granted you’re giving loans
to individuals in corporations when you
lend to individuals in might prosper for
one week one month one year five years
but what happens in ten years time
have you helped create long-term
economic opportunities for these
individuals and what about the pie are
you growing the pie are you still
lending to the same people are you
creating long-term social value are you
helping women and youth and the final
dimension of sustainable finance is
environmental are you creating positive
environmental impact so those are the
three areas that sustainable finance
case and it’s the areas that I’m very
passionate about but it’s not that easy
to say that finance can all of a sudden
become sustainable finance because it
will take a redesigning of its
Touche banks have to redesign their
business models you have to redesign how
they operate we’ve heard about
blockchain alia banks also have to
leverage on technology so as to reach
scale and generate efficiencies but the
most important thing and this is the
crux of the matter
anchors have to change their mindset
they have to think different
you have to feel differently and that is
not easy culture change is not easy I
mean we all know that bankers are
motivated by making money so how do you
make a banker decide that I’m gonna
finance the next hydro plan it might be
easier to finance another area but I’m
gonna do this because I know it’s gonna
help I’m gonna finance climate smart
cocoa farming I know I might not really
understand it it might take me longer to
close the deal but I’m gonna do this
because it’s gonna help the economy
it’s gonna help the society that is a
mindset shift seeing that you can still
make money but make money by doing the
right thing so how do you do that how do
you help anchors see this and I call
this the show me the money principle of
sustainable finance we have to be able
to let bankers see that you can actually
make money by doing the right thing and
they will do it there is green in green
and they have to see it so how do you do
that how do you leverage on the
opportunities within climate change the
opportunities within the green economy
well I mentioned before it will take
billions of dollars to re-engineer
economic systems to be sustainable and a
number of institutions are seeing this
opportunity and one of them is the
development finance world they can see
that by leveraging on the economic
opportunities they are able to make
money and make an impact and one of the
instruments that development finance
institutions are using the climate proof
the economy is green boats green bonds
are an instrument that very much like
owns if you know what how phones work
once are a debt
that issuable race to get capital to
invest so a green point it’s very much
like a regular college but the money
that the institution raises goes towards
the environmental area remember we
talked about the environmental value
site and the global green bond market
right now by the end of this year is
expected to hit two hundred and fifty
billion dollars worth of assets that is
two hundred and fifty billion dollars
worth of money that’s looking for green
opportunities and therefore Africa has a
fantastic opportunity the leverage on
this now why would an institution want
to raise a green point well they can tap
all this money that’s available why
would an investor want to buy a green
point I’m sure we’ve all heard about the
Paris agreement the Paris agreement is
basically an agreement between states
that they will either allocate or invest
or deploy capital to help mitigate
climate change so the developed world to
make commitments to the developing world
because we all know the developed world
is the reason why we are having climate
change in the first place because
they’ve been at it longer so they
created the problem but what they are
trying to do now is allocate capital so
the developing world is not as badly
affected by climate change and therefore
there’s billions of dollars worth of
commitments that need to be deployed
that needs to be mobilized and this is
where the issuer’s of green bonds for
example can tap and leverage so in a way
green bonds and sustainable finance is
like an invisible hand that it’s helping
Africa to be sustainable and helping
make sure that our communities can
survive for the long term now I’m here
in Ghana and I love Ghana the first time
I came was lastly I had the opportunity
to come and train and talk to about 20
bankers and I thought it was fantastic
because first of all I’ve always wanted
to come to Canada
I’m a Pan Africanist and passionate
about Africa and this is I think this is
the birth place right so you all started
our freedom so I love to come
and I’ve really read a lot of common
crewman’s work and I really respected
what he was trying to do and I think you
know by a large extent we are living his
vision isn’t it we are going to where he
had the vision so when I was here
talking with the bankers I thought it
was fantastic bag out of the about 20 of
them ten of them were just as passionate
as I was about sustainable finance and
these are corporate bankers who do big
deals and I thought this is fantastic
because here is a group of people who
are making money they are getting great
bonuses but guess what they also want to
do it the right way and then it made me
think how many bankers do we need to
change the global financial system to be
sustainable to make a sustainable impact
well in Kenya we started with one so I
was the one in 2012 I realized that I’m
king can be better I’m King can do more
so I spoke with the CEO Kenya Bankers
Association and he also agreed that
banking should not only be about
self-interest so we were too and then we
were three because we spoke with the
chairman of Kenya Bankers Association
and he also said but he added he said
you know what if we as bankers are to be
relevant into the future if barking is
to be viable and not this be displaced
by FinTech or blockchain we are to be
relevant into the future it can’t just
be about making money so we were three
and six years later we have reached out
to 28,000 bankers with this idea that
banking can be better
now not all 28,000 are gonna go out and
see the world right but maybe one or two
for sure and when I started this work I
didn’t expect that I would inspire
people in Ghana in Tanzania in UAE in
Mongolia in Singapore and Peru and I’ve
been invited to all these places to talk
about sustainable finance which is why
I’m always happy when I’m invited to
speak
it’s because in this room there’s a
future banker for there is a banker yeah
and you will make the right decisions
because you realize you know what there
is greed and greed you can make money
and do it the right way so when we talk
about designing the future what is the
future of finance to me the future of
finance is sustainable finance I
remember when I first started thinking
about this work I was working at a place
and one of my bosses at the time was
like knurl you are wasting my time this
is not a conversation I want to have and
I did let his words discourage me
because I believed that no fine King is
more about it’s more than more than
self-interest and I’m glad he did not
stop me from there because can you
imagine I would not have reached 20,000
people with this story and I honestly
believe the future of finance is not for
people like that it’s not for those
old-school bankers were just chasing
bonuses the future of finance is for
[Music] [Applause]
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