The head of sustainability at Credit Suisse, Marisa Drew, is expanding her team. She is bringing in several specialists from a rival bank.
Michael van der Meer, Angela Saxby, Sina Dorner-Mueller and Timothy Oehmigen have joined Credit Suisse (CS), according to a statement from the bank. The team of four comes from Dutch fund house Robeco; the specialists in sustainable finance will strengthen the sustainability strategy, advisory and finance (SSAF) unit under Daniel Wild in Zurich. SSAF functions as an expertise hub for the entire group.
Van der Meer will lead the sustainability analysis and head the ESG strategy team of the major bank, according to the statement. Karim Sayyad is also a new addition to the team. He is an alumnus of the Swedish-Finnish financial group Nordea.
Green Light From the Top
With the newcomers from the competition, Marisa Drew, head of sustainability, to whom the SSAF unit reports, is further expanding her sphere of activity. She can count on the green light from the very top: last July, the big bank appointed manager Lydie Hudson as head of the brand-new sustainability, research and investment solutions (SRI) division.
In doing so, CS CEO Thomas Gottstein strengthened his resolve to move forward in the area of sustainability. Last December, for example, the big bank committed to developing science-based climate targets within the next 24 months and aims to make its operations and financing carbon-neutral in the coming decades.
Target of Fishing Expeditions
Robeco, one of the pioneers of sustainable finance with its Swiss subsidiary Robeco SAM, which was integrated into the umbrella brand last year, has once again become the target of fishing expeditions by larger competitors. At UBS, for example, Michael Baldinger, a former head of Robeco SAM, has been in charge of the now billion-dollar sustainable investment business since 2017.
