How does sustainability work in export and trade finance?

With the training series “Sustainability in Export & Trade Finance”, Frankfurt School and AKA Ausfuhrkredit-Gesellschaft mbH have set up a long-term training concept on the topic of sustainability. More than 40 employees – out of almost 170 – have already been trained in a pilot phase. The training series will be offered regularly from November 2023.

To ensure that AKA can optimally assess, manage and utilise the impact of sustainability issues on its business strategy and business partners in the future, Frankfurt School has developed the customised Sustainability in Export & Trade Finance training series for AKA. The interactive and practical series focuses on the topics of “Climate Change and its Impact on the Financial Sector”, “Energy Transition”, “Biodiversity” and “Social Impact”.

The importance of sustainability for export finance has grown considerably in recent years. Guiding questions such as “What impact does climate change have on my corporate clients, my own financial institution and us as a society?”, “Can the energy transition be exported to emerging markets?” and “What importance is attached to social responsibility and social impact?” are becoming increasingly important for trade and export finance institutions. AKA Ausfuhrkredit-Gesellschaft, which – together with its 17 shareholder banks – as a specialised institution for international export and trade finance works on the financing of German exports, is dealing intensively with these topics.

Marck Wengrzik, Chief Executive Officer of AKA, emphasises: “A sustainable bank is not only shaped by its products and services, but above all by the knowledge and convictions of its employees. The ESG AKAdemy, which includes the Sustainability in Export & Trade Finance training series, teaches and coaches our employees on environmental, social and governance issues and plays a crucial role in the implementation and realisation of AKA's sustainability mission statement. We are very pleased about the successful cooperation with Frankfurt School.”

Dr Christine Grüning, Director at the Frankfurt School-UNEP Centre for Climate & Sustainable Energy Finance explains: “Frankfurt School's long-term cooperation with AKA is key to ensuring that their decision-makers, financial experts and partners actively contribute to making the world a more sustainable place. With its many years of academic expertise and practical project experience, Frankfurt School supports financial institutions such as AKA in the education of their employees on sustainability topics.”

About AKA

AKA Ausfuhrkredit-Gesellschaft mbH has specialised in international export and trade financing since 1952. AKA is headquartered in Frankfurt/Main. Together with its 17 shareholder banks such as Bayerische Landesbank, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Leasing, DZ Bank, Hamburg Commercial Bank, ING, KfW IPEX-Bank, Landesbank Baden-Württemberg and UniCredit, it works in partnership to finance German export transactions. In co-operation with exporters, importers, credit insurers and banks, AKA makes an important contribution to promoting the German export industry. AKA is subject to German banking supervision and is a member of the Deposit Protection Fund of the Association of German Banks.