HONG KONG, Sept. 4, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Governance Solutions Group (GSG) today announces Shanghai Finance Institute (SFI) as a new minority investor.

GSG, an AI-enabled Governance and ESG advisor has partnered with SFI, a Shanghai based think tank dedicated to financial policy research, chaired by Mr. Tu Guangshao. As a former leader at the CSRC and the China Investment Corporation, Mr. Tu has been the primary architect of the GSG partnership.

SFI’s mission with the GSG venture is to further enhance China focused sustainable investment exploration and progress. “We are honored to cooperate with SFI in a number of areas, including responsible investment research, ESG rating advisory and related policy development,” states Dr. Wang Dequan (Davis), CEO of GSG.

China’s ESG investment development accelerates

Mr. Tu submitted a proposal on “Exploring the establishment of Chinese standards for ‘responsible investment’ to vigorously promote China’s ESG investment practices”.

The proposal suggests that regulators and industry associations should work together to:

• Improve the disclosure guidelines of ESG information;
• Build an ESG evaluation system that meets China’s market conditions
• Urge institutional investors, especially long-term asset management institutions such as social security funds and sovereign wealth funds to include responsible investment in their investment evaluation system.

In this proposal Mr. Tu explains, “ESG investment and responsible investment can better achieve the combination of commercial benefits and social value, so that long-term performance is improved, risks are mitigated and long-term returns are more secure. ESG investment is of vital importance to support China’s commercial, environmental and social progress”.

Differentiated ESG service solutions are suitable for different clients

Today, the global investment community, including China, has widely recognized that the integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into investment decisions and the exercise of active ownership is essential to the formation of long-term sustainable returns.

Under this general trend, GSG provides asset manager and asset owner clients with three types of services: governance risk rating, ESG consulting, and data, while providing differentiated service solutions for international clients and Chinese clients.

“With illustrious Chinese Asset Managers such as Bosera, GSG has advised on ESG integration, investment strategies and policies as well as research support to help Bosera better implement their strategy. We also support such firms to attract more global investors by ensuring optimum alignment with global responsible investment standards such as the PRI”, states Mark Schroeder, GSG’s International MD.

“For international institutional investors, GSG aims to provide in-depth local insight on corporate governance, business ethics and risk control practices on the Chinese listed companies.” states, Dr. Wang. And, “we also provide on the ground assistance to international clients on their engagement and voting activities. For engagement, we’re collaborating with the China Securities Investor Service Center (CSISC). CSISC is a legally sanctioned representative to minority shareholders, with the mission of making shareholder engagement more effective”.

Based on the practical experience of the Chinese A-share and Hong Kong stock markets, combined with the internationally recognized standards of responsible investment and sustainable development principles, GSG has created a product for the governance rating of listed companies – GSG Intelex Quotient™ (GSG IQ™). GSG IQ™ is a data-driven corporate governance scoring model for listed companies, developed by utilizing leading cognitive text analytics technology such as NLP. The system is designed to help institutional investors continuously and comprehensively evaluate corporate governance structure, systems, practices and behaviors, along with mitigation of potential investment risks.

“GSG intends to be a positive force in the Chinese capital market by advising all levels of the investment community to further develop an environment of transparent and ethical corporate growth, encouraging a sustainable and responsible investment culture,” states Dr. Wang.

About GSG

Governance Solutions Group (GSG) is a corporate governance and sustainable investment advisor focusing on China’s capital market. The first such China based provider to become a signatory to the UN PRI. The company is based in Hong Kong with offices in Beijing and Shenzhen, providing professional services such as sustainable development and investment strategy consulting, in-depth corporate governance research and rating services for institutional investors active with A-share and HK-listed entities.

About Shanghai Finance Institute

The Shanghai Finance Institute (www.SFI.org.cn) is an unofficial, non-profit think tank dedicated to policy research in the field of novel and international finance. The Institute was established on July 14, 2011, organized by the China Finance 40 Forum (www.CF40.org.cn) and strategically affiliated with the Shanghai Municipal Financial Services Office.