Sydney, 14 February, 2023 – Zagga, the boutique investment manager and non-bank lender, is pleased to announce that Nikki Kemp has been appointed independent Chair of the Zagga ESG Advisory Committee.
Recently leading the World Economic Forum’s Sustainable Development Investment Partnership in ASEAN, Nikki engaged public and private sector actors to engage and act on creating the conditions for capital to flow to sustainable development.
This new appointment draws on Nikki’s decades of experience across corporate and institutional banking in Australia, UK and Asia Pacific with HSBC and ANZ, independent sustainable finance consultancy in Asia Pacific, and having co-founded an energy efficiency fintech.
Nikki has also served on various Not-For-Profit boards and committees for sustainability and social development agendas for children and youth.
Zagga CEO and Co-Founder, Alan Greenstein, commented: “We are delighted to have Nikki take on this key role. ESG is, and will become an increasingly, crucial consideration for funders and investors, and we want to ensure that Zagga exceeds expectations in this regard. Nikki is perfectly placed to assist Zagga in developing and implementing its ESG agenda and to keep us up to date with best practices and trends.”
Speaking in Sydney this week, while participating in a Zagga workshop, Nikki said: “Once seen as a virtuous endeavour or a fad that compromised investment returns, ESG has increasingly moved from periphery of investment objectives towards its core. ESG positively impacts the financial performance of investments alongside societal and environmental outcomes.
Institutional investment, pension funds and private high net worth funds are increasingly seeking alternative assets, and there is a growing realisation of appropriately embedding ESG within alternative asset classes to gain a more holistic view of risk and responsible investment. Real estate and illiquid assets are highly exposed to ESG risks. It is important therefore, that we engage collaboratively with investors and developers to mitigate ESG risk and enhance performance in this early stage of property development.”
Zagga recently announced its $1 billion originations milestone with record originations growth in excess of 40% on the prior year, while continuing to see increases in both borrower demand for non-bank lending and investor appetite for commercial real estate debt.
