MSCI Chairman: "COVID-19 is the Third World War... Evaluating Companies and Governments from a New Perspective"

Henry Fernandez, Chairman of MSCI

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunbyeol Kim] Henry Fernandez, Chairman of Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI), one of the world's four major index providers, stated on the 9th, "With Biden, the Democratic candidate, winning the U.S. presidential election, ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) has become more important," adding, "This year will be a historic year promoting sustainable investment and finance, and those who quickly embrace change will become frontrunners."

Chairman Fernandez attended the '2020 ESG Global Summit: The Path to a Resilient Economy and Sustainable Finance' conference, hosted by the Institute for Global Economics (IGE) and KB Financial Group, via live video, stating, "COVID-19 is the Third World War, and the war against COVID is a war against an invisible enemy."

He said, "The fight against COVID-19 is completely different from traditional wars where the enemy is defeated," and added, "Perspectives on companies and climate will change, and we will evaluate governments and companies from a new perspective." This means that evaluations of governments and companies may vary depending on how they respond to COVID-19 after the pandemic.

Chairman Fernandez explained, "Although it is still premature, for example, we will evaluate how a particular country's government used governance to overcome or failed to overcome the COVID-19 crisis."

Regarding criticism that ESG evaluation systems are inconsistent, he responded, "It is difficult because it looks at broad and non-financial factors, but the Biden administration will conduct research to provide guidelines," and added, "ESG evaluations will gradually move toward standardization."