ESG APAC Conference
Preparing for the Next Chapter
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Agenda15:15SGT
Session 1 | ESG: The Value of Natural Capital and Biodiversity
Learn about the impact of natural capital risks on APAC, in the wake of COP26 and the proposed TNFD recommendations for nature-related financial disclosures.
Discussion Highlights
- How is the continued focus on natural capital and biodiversity impacting APAC market developments and credit trends?
- How do we better govern, measure, and manage the impact of evolving biodiversity risks?
15:55SGTSession 2 | Sustainable Finance: Enhanced Disclosures and Best Practices
Our experts discuss how APAC’s burgeoning sustainable finance industry is carving its pathway with enhanced disclosures and best practices.
Discussion Highlights
- Where do the interoperability and compatibility of disclosures and taxonomies fit in as APAC strengthens its disclosure requirements?
- How are issuers in this segment balancing product innovation and best practices with transparency requirements?
16:35SGTSession 3 | Climate: Understanding Net-Zero Commitments
The meaning of net-zero and how corporates are working to achieve it.
Discussion Highlights
- What is temperature alignment, and why has demand to quantify portfolios’ temperature alignment risen?
- What are some of the challenges in adopting this approach, and what are companies doing to keep to their net-zero goals?
- How does the transition to net zero influence credit risk?
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Wendy Cheong is a senior management and strategy professional with over 22 years of experience in leading and transforming international business operations.
She is currently Managing Director-Regional Head of Asia Pacific for Moody’s Investors Service (MIS), based in Hong Kong. In this role, Wendy develops and leads Moody’s growth strategy in both developed and emerging markets in the region. Wendy is the senior representative for Moody’s in Asia Pacific and is responsible for managing regional operations, overseeing policy and regulatory outreach, coordinating Moody’s global initiatives, and providing oversight of affiliates, joint ventures and MIS domestic market strategies in the region.
Wendy joined Moody's in 2010 as an Assistant Director at Content Strategy in Moody’s Analytics, and has since held senior positions in strategy and management roles across business lines in Hong Kong and New York to build strategic vision, drive business growth and enhance market impact. She has served as Chief of Staff to the President of Moody’s Investors Service; Representative Director for MIS in Hong Kong, while also serving as Senior Vice President – Head of APAC Strategy & Business Management; and Director and Senior Product Strategist at Moody’s Analytics. Wendy sits as a Director on the boards of a majority of Moody’s Asia entities and affiliates in the region.
Wendy is a member of Moody’s Global Diversity Council and founded the Moody’s Women’s Employee Resource Group in Asia Pacific. She held leadership roles in several external women in finance organizations, including 100 Women in Finance and the Women in Finance Association of the Asia Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA). She is currently a member of the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN), a leading network of over 600 organizations across 34 countries that mobilizes capital for impact investing.
Before joining Moody’s, Wendy held senior strategy, sales and marketing positions at Prudential PLC, as well as at Singapore Telecoms in Hong Kong and Singapore.
She holds a BA in Southeast Asian Studies from the National University of Singapore.
Julia Haake, a trained economist with a PhD from Versailles University in France, is Managing Director, Market Strategy at Moody’s ESG Solutions. She has joined Moody’s in December 2021, joining from ISS and formerly oekom research (acquired by ISS in 2018), where she was part of the ESG business unit’s leadership team and, over the last ten years, held various positions in business development, client coverage, stewardship and engagement. Julia has been working in Sustainability, CSR and ESG since 1993, when she started as a researcher, first at the German Wuppertal Institute and then at Versailles University in France, where she completed her PhD thesis in Environmental Economics. She later joined the French consulting firm O2 France as a consultant advising corporates on environmental and sustainability strategy and environmentally friendly product design. From 2003 to 2008 she contributed to building and rolling out the French postal operator Groupe La Poste’s CSR strategy, before joining the global environmental NGO WWF, where her role was to lead the Paris-based team in charge with managing corporate relations, sustainability partnerships and corporate fundraising.
In 2019, Julia has been elected member of the board of the French Sustainable Investment Forum (FIR) and appointed member of the French market regulator’s (Autorité des Marches Financiers) Sustainable Finance Commission. She is also co-author of the book "L'Entreprise Légère", written with Basile Gueorguievsky, published by Delachaux & Niestlé in 2010.
Rahul Ghosh is Managing Director, ESG Outreach & Research for Moody’s Investors Service.
Rahul leads global oversight for the credit rating agency’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) research and outreach strategy. In this capacity, he is responsible for co-ordinating high quality and impactful research exploring the credit implications of ESG, as well as digital and in-person outreach to meet the growing market needs of investors, issuers and other important stakeholders.
Rahul is a regular participant at high-profile industry working groups, market briefings, external conferences and media engagements. He is a member of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, a market-led initiative to develop a risk management and disclosure framework for nature-related risks. He has also represented Moody’s on the UN Principles for Responsible Investment's advisory committee on credit ratings and the Green and Social Bond Principles working groups. He has presented on the impact of climate change on emerging market sovereigns at the G20 Green Finance Study Group and on sustainable finance trends at the International Finance Corporation’s Global Debt Mobilization Conference.
Before his current role, Rahul oversaw Moody’s ESG Solutions Group outreach and engagement activities globally with the sustainability stakeholder community. He also previously worked in Moody’s Credit Strategy & Research team where he was responsible for thematic research and outreach on global emerging market (EM) credit trends. Prior to joining Moody’s in 2013, Rahul was the Head of Asia at BMI Research (Fitch Solutions) in Singapore, leading a team of macroeconomists and industry specialists in analysing sovereign risk, sector performance and the capital markets.
Rahul is a passionate impact leader for Moody’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in London, chairing the pillar on “activating an environmentally sustainable future”. He holds a Masters degree in Economics from the University of Edinburgh and a Certificate in ESG Investing from the CFA Society of the UK.
John Wang is a Vice President and Senior Analyst for Moody’s ESG, based in Singapore.
In his role, John is involved in integrating ESG into Moody’s credit rating research and is the point person for Moody’s ESG outreach in the Asia-Pacific region. He is also responsible for publishing thematic and issuer-specific research on ESG risks relevant to credit analysis.
Prior to joining Moody’s, John was CEO of Visiondom ESG, an independent ESG consultancy in China, which helped institutional investors integrate ESG into their investment process. He also worked as an ESG specialist with Fidelity International’s Asia Stewardship and Sustainable Investing team, focusing on the Greater China and Oceania markets for five years. At Fidelity, he was closely involved in promoting ESG best practices in Asia and ESG integration, and had a special focus on corporate governance and carbon trading.
John holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Singapore Management University and is a CFA Charterholder.
Dr. Hao LIANG is an associate professor of finance at Singapore Management University (SMU), where he also holds the BNP Paribas Fellowship, DBS Sustainability Fellowship, and Lee Kong Chian Fellowship. He is a research member of European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) and an extramural fellow of Tilburg University. He is also a member of the Management Committee of Singapore Green Finance Centre, the Steering Committee of Impact & Sustainable Finance Faculty Consortium, the Scientific Committee of Geneva Centre for Philanthropy, and the Technical Committee for Sustainable Finance of Enterprise Singapore. His research interests include sustainable finance, impact investing, corporate finance and governance. He has published on prestigious academic journals including Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of International Business Studies, Management Science, Organization Science, and Journal of Business Venturing. He is the Section Editor (Finance & Business Ethics) of Journal of Business Ethics and is on the editorial boards of Asia-Pacific Journal of Financial Studies, British Accounting Review, Journal of Industrial and Business Economics and Strategic Management Journal.
Dr. Liang is the recipient of the Alliance for Research on Corporate Sustainability Emerging Scholar Award in 2020, and two-time winner of the prestigious Moskowitz Prize for Socially Responsible Investing (2014 & 2019). At SMU, he teaches Sustainable Finance and Entrepreneurial Finance at undergraduate, masters, DBA and PhD levels. He is a frequent contributor to Harvard Law School Forum of Corporate Governance and Oxford Business Law Blog among many other media. Most recently, Prof Hao has been nominated to join the China ESG 30 Forum where 30 of the top minds in China’s ESG scene are brought together by Caixin Magazine.
Michelle Loi is the Vice President of Asia Sustainable Finance at WWF based in Singapore. She has over 15 years of experience in the financial industry. In her current role, she leverages on her experience and passion for sustainability to engage and work in partnership with the financial industry to build capacity, develop thought leadership and advocate for change that directs finance towards sustainable activities.
Prior to joining WWF-Singapore, she had actively engaged with Asia Pacific institutional investors such as asset managers and asset owners while at Northern Trust and BNY Mellon in the ESG, performance & risk analysis of their investment portfolios. She was focused on driving awareness and adoption of ESG, investment performance & risk products and thought leadership. She drew on her innate ability to analyze information and tell the story behind investment portfolios' data, to enable investors to make informed investment decisions.
Michelle holds a BSc in Economics and Management from University of London-SIM. She also holds the Certificate in Investment Performance Measurement™ designation and the Sustainability and Climate Risk (SCR®) Certificate.
Iain Henderson is the Managing Director for ADM Capital Climate based in Singapore. Iain has spent over 20 working in the finance sector in a variety of roles. After a decade working for investment banks, he switched to focus on sustainable finance in 2009. He has since worked on sustainable finance for WWF, the United Nations, and for ADM Capital. He sits on the ADM Capital ESG Committee and is currently focused on launching an Indonesia-focused blended finance impact fund for ADM Capital Climate focused on sustainable agricultural commodities.
Iain is an Oxford University Geography graduate and has postgraduate qualifications in Management, Economics & Politics (St Andrews) and Agricultural Economics (SOAS). He became a Chartered Financial Analyst in 2002 and a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst in 2018. He was elected to the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Forests in 2014, is a Senior Advisor to United Nations Development Programme’s Finance Sector Hub and sits on the Advisory Board of the Rocket Foundation.
Juliette Macresy is Senior Director, Head of Asia sales at Moody’s ESG Solutions. She worked at VE since 1997 based in Hong Kong. As the Head of Greater China and South East Asian markets, she covered the region for both investors and issuers on sustainable finance transactions and its derivatives. In September 2020 she became a member of the Executive Committee of VE and took the global responsibility of the issuer team expanding MESG footprint in the sustainable finance markets in key regions North America, LATAM, EMEA and APAC.
In 2021, Juliette has won the award for ‘Excellence in Sustainability’ at Women in Finance Asia Awards. The ceremony’s judging panel recognized Juliette as a driving force for the APAC region’s sustainability agenda, commending her work in bringing greater transparency to green, social and sustainability bond markets and advancing diversity in the financial services sector.
Holding a Master’s degree in Banking and Finance from Dauphine University (France), Juliette has been working in financial markets in London and Paris for almost twenty years. She started her career in major French banks as a credit analyst before joining Moody’s Investors Services in London as a credit analyst. Then, she moved to fixed income positions within Natixis in Paris and Hong Kong.
Juliette is a CFA charter holder since 2003.
Mushtaq Kapasi is ICMA’s Chief Representative for the Asia-Pacific region. He has been based in Hong Kong since 2002, engaged in senior strategy, capital market and legal roles covering the region at international banks active in Asia. He has worked as a lawyer in debt capital markets and derivatives, a structurer in equities and fixed income, a manager of complex trades with regulatory and accounting considerations, and an adviser to top executives on emerging market strategy. He has also served as a consultant on financial structures of renewable energy projects in frontier markets. He is a member of the New York State Bar, and studied mathematics at the University of Texas and law at Yale University.
As Head of Sustainable Capital Markets for Global Markets Asia Pacific, Chaoni leads BNP Paribas’ sustainable finance solutions for corporate, financial institutions and investors with a focus on primary asset finance and securitisation. Working with Global Markets in Asia Pacific and the Bank’s global sustainable finance community, Chaoni drives BNP Paribas’ continued expansion and leadership in Asian sustainable debt capital markets.
Chaoni is an industry veteran with 15 years of experience in sustainable finance having held various ESG-related roles at Natixis, S&P Trucost, MSCI and the United Nations. In addition to her role at BNP Paribas, Chaoni is also deeply embedded in the sustainable finance industry where she is Vice President and Secretary General of the Hong Kong Green Finance Association and a guest researcher at both the Green Finance Center at Tsinghua University and the China Economy and Sustainable Development Centre at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business.
Jeffrey Sukjoon Lee is Vice President – Manager for APAC Sustainable Finance with Moody’s ESG Solutions. In this capacity, Jeffrey oversees a team of analysts in APAC, who are in charge of producing Second Party Opinions (SPOs) and Sustainability Ratings (SRs). He is based in Singapore. Before his current role, Jeffrey worked in Moody’s Investor Services’ Financial Institutions Group. He joined Moody’s in 2013 as an Associate Analyst covering Korean financial institutions and served several roles within the group since then. Most recently, he was a Assistant Vice President – Analyst and part of the team responsible for portfolio of banks and non-bank financial institutions in South and South East Asia. Prior to that, he was an Assistant Vice President – Manager and led a team of associate analysts covering financial institutions in APAC. Before joining Moody’s Jeffrey worked at Morgan Stanley’s Institutional Equity Division in South Korea, covering a portfolio of Korean clients. Jeffrey holds a BSc in Economics from Korea University.
Yasman Moghaddam is a Subject Matter Expert within the Moody’s risk and finance analytics practice across APAC and Middle East. Her areas of focus include some of the key emerging themes including climate risk management and particularly around financial risk analytics and quantification.
Her most recent work has included strategizing with a number of key financial institutions across APAC and the Middle East in designing scalable and fit for purpose ESG and climate risk management frameworks to support risk identification, quantification, integration as part of lending as well as climate stress testing exercises with the aim to address the emerging regulatory requirements as well as enhancing internal processes.
Since joining Moody’s, she has been focusing on areas including Stress Testing, IFRS 9, Early Warning Solutions and ESG & Climate Change which she has also participated in a number of events and webinars as a speaker to discuss emerging trends, challenges and thought leadership on these areas. Yasman comes with a wealth of experience from her previous role as a consultant in the Enterprise Risk Management space, working with various Financial Institutions as well as regulators across APAC and the Middle East in the design and implementation of risk management and regulatory frameworks.
Andrew is a Vice President at Moody’s ESG Solutions, where he leads on methodologies for climate change products. He was previously Co-Head of Research at Carbon Tracker Initiative, a non-profit think tank that looks at the financial implications of the energy transition for investor audiences, and led oil and gas and mining sector coverage. He also acted as a Senior Advisor on climate change to Critical Resource, a boutique management consultancy specialising in managing stakeholder challenges. Andrew formerly worked at Barclays Natural Resources Investments, a private equity department of Barclays that committed capital across a range of commodities and related industries, and has prior experience in remuneration and corporate governance at New Bridge Street LLP. Andrew holds a degree in Chemistry & Law from the University of Bristol.
Frank Medrisch, CFA is Vice President - Senior Analyst within the ESG team, based out of London. He specializes in the credit implications of the energy transition for multiple sectors, climate change mitigation policy, and emerging decarbonisation technologies. Frank plays a key role in the development of Moody’s Carbon Transition Assessment (CTA) scores, a suite of analytical frameworks and tools designed to measure the carbon transition risk exposure for energy-intensive rated issuers. He also participates, presents, and moderates in Moody’s events and webinars, as well as external outreach meetings and working groups. Prior to his current role, he spent six years as a lead analyst within the Structured Finance Group, covering Latin American and European consumer securitizations from the Buenos Aires and the London office. Before joining Moody’s in 2015, Frank worked for five years in corporate finance credit ratings and equity/fixed income research in Argentina and Chile. He is a CFA charterholder and also holds a Master’s degree in Finance as well as a BA in Economics from UTDT in Buenos Aires
Dr. Wong is Senior Vice President and a member of the Sustainability team in DBS’ Institutional Banking Group (IBG).
She has over 17 years of experience in the environmental, health & safety, and social (EHSS) field, as a sustainability advisor, an environmental and social consultant, an educator and an academic researcher. She has extensive on-the-ground experience in a wide variety of sectors across Asia and beyond. A great deal of her professional time is devoted to fulfilling DBS’ net zero commitment, advising on sustainable finance, supporting DBS’ clients on sustainability and environmental & social management through advisory and capacity building, as well as integration of international sustainability best management practices into operations and management frameworks.
Over the years, she has published a dozen peer-reviewed scientific journal articles. Dr. Wong has also taught environmental subjects at various institutions. She holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Geochemistry, a M.Phil. in Environmental Engineering, and a B.A.Sc. in Bio-Resource Engineering.
Jean Chong is Assistant Vice President – Outreach for Moody’s Stakeholder Sustainability team. In this role, Jean leads the sustainability-related outreach and engagement activities with the sustainability stakeholder community across APAC.
Jean has built her career in both the public and private sector, focusing on strategic markets development and stakeholder engagement. Before Moody’s, Jean worked for the global financial messaging provider, SWIFT, with its Capital Markets & Standards team. She was responsible for SWIFT’s outreach and market strategy for securities market infrastructures, regulators, and market participants, focusing on ASEAN markets. Jean was also with the International Affairs Department of the Securities Commission of Malaysia, directly involved in activities to advance global regulatory cooperation and promote sustainable market development.
Jean holds a BSc in Accounting & Finance from the University of Warwick. She is also a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). Jean is currently an Executive Committee Member of the Financial Women’s Association of Singapore (FWA).