Financial Industry Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is soliciting opinions on financial industry standards with the aim of collaborating with stakeholders to revise sustainable disclosures.
The financial industry standards are divided into three categories: banking, capital markets, and insurance. The Global Reporting Initiative has developed corresponding standards for each category.
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Introduction to Financial Industry Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative believes that the financial industry has a wide-ranging impact on the environment, society, and economy, and is therefore considered a priority industry for standard setting. In February 2023, the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB) approved the development of standards for the financial industry. In July 2023, the board organized three technical committees to develop standards for the banking, capital markets, and insurance industries.
Although banks, capital markets, and insurance all belong to the financial industry, their businesses vary greatly and are usually managed by different regulatory agencies. Therefore, industry standards are developed for each category, and the scope of these standards includes:
- Banks: personal banks, commercial banks, corporate banks, and investment banks.
- Capital markets: asset management, wealth management, custody services, investment consulting.
- Insurance: insurance, reinsurance.
For financial enterprises engaged in two or more categories of business activities, the Global Reporting Initiative recommends that they disclose based on different standards for different businesses. These standards refer to the OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, as well as the Paris Agreement, the Global Biodiversity Framework, and others.
The Global Reporting Initiative believes that material themes refer to issues that may have a substantial impact on business activities in the financial industry. The three categories of banking, capital markets, and insurance consist of 22, 23, and 22 material themes, respectively, with 21 themes shared by all three categories. For 19 of these topics, companies need to release additional industry reports in addition to standard disclosures. The Global Reporting Initiative plans to collect stakeholder feedback by May 31, 2025, and officially release these standards in the second quarter of 2026.
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