Social and environmental responsibility: at the heart of the FGDR’s mission

The mission and raison d’être of the FGDR is to be a crisis operator in support of responsible finance.

The FGDR's aim is to gradually incorporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria into its investment and management company selection policy. These criteria are fully in line with its strategy as a “responsible finance operator". They are also taken into account during the FGDR's assessment of fund management performance. 

Principles and indicators of responsible investment (PRI) 

The FGDR has launched several studies to identify the principles and indicators that must be part of its investment policy. It has adopted the following:

1. periodic assessment of the carbon footprint of the equity and bond portfolio;
2. verification during fund management tenders that the service providers selected are signatories of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) defined by the United Nations Organization (UN);
3. determination of the percentage of securities in its portfolio that is eligible for each management company's “socially responsible investment” (SRI) funds.

In accordance with the regulations in force, the FGDR collects income from the monetary penalties imposed by the Sanctions Committee of the Financial Markets Authority (AMF), which it allocates to educational activities in the financial area. It redistributes this income through financial organisations that promote financial knowledge among the general public and business professionals. 
 

Organisations supported by the FGDR

• Institut pour l’Éducation Financière du Public (IEFP): the IEFP is a public interest organisation created in 2006 under the auspices of the AMF and NYSE Euronext to encourage and promote financial knowledge among French people (see website lafinancepourtous.com). 
• L’École de la Bourse: an organisation created over 20 years ago at the initiative of NYSE Euronext which provides training in the fields of banking and finance (see website lecoledelabourse.com).
• Les Places Financières de Province (PFR): created in the late 1980s, when regional stock exchanges were closing down, to bring together local financial professions. 

To promote this policy of encouraging responsible finance and social and environmental responsibility even further, the FGDR has launched an initiative within the European Forum of Deposit Insurers (EFDI). This initiative aims to unite all European and international guarantee schemes which are ready to do so around a common charter (“EFDI Charter for Sustainable Deposit i Guarantee i and Investor Compensation i Schemes”).
 

Responsibility principles and commitments of European Deposit i Insurers

This charter for deposit guarantee and investor compensation schemes is being discussed and is expected to constitute:

• a declaration of principle regarding recognition by the signatories of their responsibility as participants in the financial safety net who are firmly established in the economy and serve the public interest;
• an assertion of their desire to fully contribute to the efforts of the international community of deposit insurers in order to meet the environmental and social challenges facing it;
• adherence to the principles of sustainability, corporate responsibility and ethics which guide their actions;
• a commitment at various levels of their business regarding the way in which they fulfil their mission, interact with customers of institutions, control their risks or manage their assets.