We recently met with Thomas Fladby, Bachelor’s alumnus from 2007. He is part of the Responsible Investment team at Danske Bank Asset Management as Chief ESG Specialist.
He has been with Danske since 2008, except for one and a half years under the covid pandemic, when he was head of sustainability for a smaller Norwegian Saving Bank. He returned to Danske in May last year.
Currently, most of the work is related to how the EU Green Deal and all the regulations coming from the EU will affect our operation and how we can use it as a business opportunity.
For example, for the last year, I have been developing how we can report on sustainability to our institutional and retail clients in the best possible manner.
Thomas Fladby, Norwegian
Chief ESG Specialist at Danske Bank Asset Management
What I like the most about my job
What I love about my job is that many different things are happening. So, when I come into the office, I might have a plan on what to do; however, often, new challenges come up. Furthermore, I like to be outside the office giving presentations to institutional clients or guest lectures to university students on how we work with sustainability and responsible investment within Danske.
Finally, and maybe most importantly, I get to work with two of my favorite topics: Finance and Sustainability.
Main skills needed
The most essential skills are being flexible, curious, and analytical. It is so much changing from one day to another, so how you dealt with a challenge yesterday might have changed overnight due to new regulations, guidance, or other external factors. In addition, much of what we are doing has not been done before, so developing and being curious and innovative in tackling challenges is essential.
I also believe that besides being interested and having knowledge about sustainability, it is vital to have a fundamental understanding of the financial markets and doing business to succeed within sustainable finance.
Opportunities and Challenges
There is no universal way to determine if an investment or company is sustainable. The same goes for ESG data to base the devotions upon. This is one of the biggest challenges in this industry.
But I believe there are big opportunities for graduates that manage to use their business mindset and mix that with their interest and knowledge about sustainability. If you also have an entrepreneurial spirit, you open doors to many opportunities in the future.
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