Milbank LLP Global Project, Energy and Infrastructure Finance partner Allan Marks will speak on the panel “The Relevancy and Impact of ESG Ratings on the Life Insurance Industry’s Investments and Access to Capital” at the Association of Life Insurance Counsel’s (ALIC) 2023 Annual Meeting on May 8, 2023. ALIC, the premier association for life insurance counsel, offers scholarship on the legal issues challenging life insurance companies and their stockholders, policy holders and broader constituencies.
Alongside co-panelists from Northwestern Mutual and Thrivent Asset Management, Mr. Marks will discuss ESG rating agencies and the methodology they use to determine ESG ratings, as well as the impact such ratings can have on the life insurance industry’s investments and access to capital. The group will also explore the varying degree to which different ESG rating agencies collect and weight certain metrics to determine ratings and the challenges the life insurance industry faces in relying on these relatively nascent rating agencies to assess their commitment to ESG.
Additionally, Mr. Marks will analyze the pace of regulatory reform on ESG, climate risk disclosures and sustainability in the US, EU and UK. Mr. Marks frequently represents insurers and other institutional investors or issuers in US private placements, green bonds and sustainability-linked instruments for companies operating globally. He will provide updates on proposed climate-risk disclosure rulemaking by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the recent ERISA fiduciary rule change from the US Department of Labor on consideration of ESG factors, Europe’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), the EU Green Bond Standard, and the EU Taxonomy Regulation (EUT) as they relate to institutional investment.
