LGT Bank (Singapore) welcomes two new board members to bolster its sustainability and sustainable investing expertise.

LGT Bank (Singapore) has appointed Neo Gim Huay, member of the managing board and head of the Centre for Nature and Climate at the World Economic Forum, and En Lee, managing director, head of Sustainable and Impact Investments Asia at LGT, to join its board of directors.

Starting in June, these appointments broaden LGT Singapore board's strength in sustainability, ESG and sustainable investing, the bank said in a statement.

As recognised industry leaders in the sustainability and sustainable investing sectors, Gim Huay and Lee bring diverse skills and expertise to the board in line with LGT's goal of being a provider of sustainable, impact investment and venture philanthropic solutions, the bank added.

In sustainable investing, LGT has been a pioneer since 2007. It has intensified its commitment by expanding sustainable and impact investment offerings across different portfolio management mandates and asset classes, the bank said. By consistently pursuing a sustainability strategy, LGT aims to become a leading provider of sustainable investment solutions by 2025, it stressed.

Sustainability
At the World Economic Forum, Gim Huay oversees climate and nature-related programmes and partnerships, including accelerating climate action and scaling nature-based solutions as well as regenerating food, water and ocean systems and resource circularity, the firm added.  Prior to joining the WEF, Gim Huay served in a variety of managing director roles at Temasek International, namely climate change strategy, sustainability as well as enterprise development.

She was formerly a management consultant with McKinsey in the US and Africa, including co-leading the set-up of McKinsey’s first office in Sub Saharan Africa in Lagos, Nigeria. Before McKinsey, Gim Huay was in the Administrative Service of the Singapore Government, working in the Finance and Trade ministries, as well as the Singapore Embassy in the US, the bank said.

She is currently a board trustee of the Singapore Institute of Technology, a member of the Creating Shared Value Council at Nestle SA, a member of the Governing Council of the Water Resources Group, World Bank as well as international special advisor to the China Council on International Cooperation on Environment and Development.

Regional impact expert
Having joined LGT in 2013, Lee leads and manages the regional impact investment portfolio in Southeast Asia and China. He is a founding partner and a senior advisor of Lightrock, LGT's global impact investing platform, an Investment Committee member of LGT Venture Philanthropy, and has served on LGT's Global Sustainability Board. Before LGT, Lee was an executive director with Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong, advising investment funds.

Previously, he was a corporate solicitor with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in London specialising in private equity and M&A transactions. He has served on the World Economic Forum ESG Advisory Group, Asia Investor Group on Climate Change, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore Sustainable Finance Working Group.

Lee is a member of the Impact Valuation Advisory Council of Novartis, the Advisory Committee of Triple P Financial Inclusion Fund, and the ESG and Sustainable Investing Expert Panel of the Wealth Management Institute. He also serves on the boards of United Nations Global Compact Singapore, Asian Venture Philanthropy Network, and the Singapore Venture & Private Capital Association, where he co-chairs the ESG Committee, the firm added.

LGT said its commitment to sustainability originates from the core values of the bank's owner, the Princely Family of Liechtenstein, which can trace its history back 900 years. It has held sustainable and long-term thinking in high regard for over a century.

LGT said it leads by example and, as a founding member of the United Nation's Net-Zero Banking Alliance, it has signed an agreement with Climeworks to filter a part of LGT’s greenhouse gas emissions from the air and permanently store them in the ground from 2025. LGT said it is committed to reducing net greenhouse gas emissions from operations and investments to net zero by 2030.

"As a company with a long-term orientation and as investors and citizens, we must focus on addressing how industries and consumption can be sustainable and how we will get there,” HSH Prince Max von und zu Liechtenstein, chairman and CEO LGT Group, explained.

“Competently implemented investment strategies with investments in well-managed, sustainability-oriented companies will make an important contribution to reducing environmental and social issues and generating attractive returns," he added.

In addition, LGT Group Foundation appointed Peter Nussbaum to join its board of directors, starting immediately. He was a co-founding partner of the Munich office of Milbank, an international law firm. Prior to this, he was co-head of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s global private equity group.

 A German national, Nussbaum serves as a board member of various companies and foundations of the Princely House of Liechtenstein including, since this year, CEO Administration of the Princely Assets.

LGT is a leading international private banking and asset management group that has been fully controlled by the Liechtenstein Princely Family for over 90 years. As at 31 December 2021, LGT managed assets of SFr285.8 billion ($313.7 billion) for wealthy private individuals and institutional clients. LGT employs over 4,100 people who work from more than 20 locations in Europe, Asia, the Americas and the Middle East.