The boss of bridging and buy-to-let lender MT Finance reckons there’s a lot that brokers can learn from incorporating ESG into their business plans.
ESG – environmental, social and governance – is a set of standards that measure a company’s impact on the environment and society, as well as its transparency and accountability.
Taking part in an inspirational ‘fireside chat’ (main picture) at yesterday’s Brightstar Specialist Lending Expo, Joshua Elash (right), Chief Executive Officer at the specialist lender explained to Brightstar Group Chief Operating Officer William Lloyd-Hayward that while ESG meant ‘a lot of different things to a lot of different people’ for MT Finance it had always been a natural process.
“Social responsibility is critical. Whatever is good for society, whatever is good for the economy, ultimately feeds back in a positive way to everything that we do as a business,” Elash said.
CHANGES
“When you look at the environmental component, I’m a 47-year-old man and I’ve seen how the environment has changed over those 47 years.
“You look at the floods in Spain and some of the temperatures that we’re seeing across the world. We’re beginning to see in real substantive terms some of the impact that our behaviour we have had over the last three of four decades has had on the planet. If we can make a positive contribution even at the most granular level then that is something that is important to us.”
IT ALL ADDS UP
For MT Finance any small contributions that they can make as an organisation – from operating a paperless office, measuring their carbon footprint to making sure all company vehicles are electric vehicles – all add up.
He added: “On the Social side of ESG we are big contributors to charitable organisations – as cliched as it sounds it is important to give back.
“We don’t give back for the benefit of brand and people say ‘oh this is a great institution’ we are giving back because of our backgrounds and who we are as people.
“Whether it’s my COO or my managing director we are people of a similar background. We don’t come from wealthy families; we’ve come from state schools and some tough inner-London neighbourhoods.”
GOOD TO SUPPORT
He went on to say: “Now having reached the stage in our lives where we are relatively successful it feels good to support our local communities, the places where we grew up, kids football teams or other charitable causes.
“To be in a position as an organisation and individuals to give back just feels really good and the right thing to do.
“ESG is a nice consequential classification that people can attach to our behaviour – but it’s a behaviour which is natural for us and is retrospectively classified.”
