In fact, the dominant theme across the global economy has become “divergence.” At one end of the spectrum, the U.S. Federal Reserve has just started its interest rate normalization process after seven years of keeping its policy rate near zero. At the other end, the European Central Bank (ECB) recently cut its deposit rate to negative 0.3 per cent.
A recent study published by De Nederlandsche Bank found that the majority of Dutch financial institutions have committed to contributing to the SDGs and various sustainability standards and frameworks. The challenges that the SDGs aim to address, if not considered, ultimately will affect the operational environment, the risk management and the business of financial institutions. Above all, these challenges are interlinked.