AMFiD: An entity of attractiveness and influence

Published on May 03, 2023Updated on May 19, 2023

At the instigation of Mr Jean Castellini, Minister of Finance and Economy, and the Monaco Association for Financial Activities (AMAF), a new entity was created in late 2022: the Monaco Association for Sustainable Finance (AMFiD).

Sustainable culture and finance

The role of AMFiD is to promote a sustainable culture within Monaco’s financial industry and to facilitate knowledge sharing between ESG (environmental, social and governance) specialists in financial institutions.The President, Laure Canas da Silva (Edmond de Rothschild Monaco), is flanked by four founding members: Stéphanie Agrefilo (Société Générale Monaco), Franck Biancheri (Penta Advisory), Eric Tournier (CMB Monaco), and Jérémy Genin, Monaco Asset Management. Their mission is to promote knowledge sharing between members, that is, all those in charge of Sustainable Finance or Impact Investment in the Principality’s financial sector, and perhaps most importantly, to promote ESG (environmental, social and governance) criteria among Monaco’s stakeholders.

Picture: Franck Biancheri (Penta Advisory Monaco), Laure Canas da Silva (Edmond de Rothschild Monaco), Jérémy Genin (Monaco Asset Management), Stéphanie Agrefilo (Société Générale Monaco) and Eric Tournier (CMB Monaco

The entity plans to organise conferences, meetings and programmes to train ESG specialists, first in the Principality and then internationally. The entity will also propose a wide range of initiatives to help develop the Sustainable Finance sector. “Developing and promoting Sustainable Finance in Monaco and abroad with the broader scope of complying with international standards” is a must that has been widely discussed by the President.

And with it, regulation. Could AMFiD logically become a key factor in increasing the Principality’s appeal? “Yes, and beyond that, it is an influential body,” explains Laure Canas da Silva. “We hope very soon to identify and adapt the various ESG criteria of the parent companies of our financial institutions to Monaco’s sector.”

One of the problems that must be solved is clearly the confusion surrounding the many ESG labels that are increasing in number across Europe, leading to an evident distrust of ESG for fear of greenwashing. It is therefore essential for ESG to be understandable. “We advocate total transparency on investments: which ESG criteria are being taken into account? What are the risks involved? What are the sustainability factors? In this way, we will meet the requirements and priorities of the Principality and our clients.”